Potentially long-term effects of a pandemic on scientists.

Gao, J., Yin, Y., Myers, KR etal. Potentially long-term effects of pandemics on scientists. nat commun 12, 6188 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26428-z

Commentary

explains that two surveys of principal investigators conducted between April 2020 and January 2021 reveal that the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientists' research time appears to have abated, but the rate of new project initiation has declined.

This impact is said to disproportionately affect female scientists and scientists with young children, and appears to be uniform across the field. These findings may have implications for understanding the long-term impact of pandemics on scientific research.