COVID-19 Impact on Journal Submissions & Reviews | Insights

To restrict the spread of COVID-19, government measures have limited access to research facilities and forced many scholars to work from home. These interruptions are expected to affect academic journal submissions and the amount of time available for editors and reviewers to engage in peer review. This editorial looks at how the pandemic has altered journal submissions, editorial, and peer review procedures at six British Ecological Society publications (BES).

There is no evidence that the geographic pattern of contributions from worldwide has changed. They also found no evidence that pandemic interruptions have had a more significant impact on women’s article submissions than on men’s—the proportion of publications produced by women throughout the COVID period of 2020 has remained unchanged compared to the same period 2019. During the epidemic, editors handled manuscripts exactly as swiftly as before, and reviewers volunteered to evaluate just as often. During the epidemic, reviewers responded more promptly to emails requesting them to review (although just 4% faster), and those who accepted to review submitted their reviews more swiftly (17% faster). As a result, we find no indication that the pandemic has negatively influenced submissions or peer review procedures at these six ecological publications. In addition, contrary to other studies, there find no representation that the pandemic has had disproportionate effects on female authors and reviewers.

References

Fox, Charles W., and Jennifer Meyer. “The influence of the global COVID‐19 pandemic on manuscript submissions and editor and reviewer performance at six ecology journals.” Functional Ecology 35.1 (2021): 4-10.