CRUB, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Bariloche, Argentina.
CONICET, LIHO, Inibioma, Bariloche, Argentina.
PeerJ. 2023 Jun 13;11:e15436. doi: 10.7717/peerj.15436. eCollection 2023.
The principle of resource allocation states that diversion of resources to attend a function may compromise others. The COVID-19 pandemic required a rapid response with a justifiable relocation of equipment, funds and human resources. Based on the ecological principle of allocation, we tested whether the relocation of resources to support COVID-19 research was more detrimental to medical research than to research in other scientific areas. We compared the yearly number of published articles from 2015 to 2021 using disease-related keywords and non-medical scientific keywords. Contrary to the expectation, we found an abrupt reduction in the publication rates in all research areas from 2019 to 2020 or 2021, compared to the pre-pandemic period (2015-2019). The allocation effect on medical research may be overshadowed by stronger effects of the pandemic, or it may become evident in the coming years. The drastic reduction in published papers could have negative consequences for scientific advancements, including understanding and curing diseases other than COVID-19 that strongly affect humanity.
资源配置原则指出，将资源转移到某项功能上可能会影响其他功能。COVID-19 大流行要求快速做出反应，合理调配设备、资金和人力资源。基于分配的生态原则，我们测试了将资源转移以支持 COVID-19 研究是否比支持其他科学领域的研究对医学研究更不利。我们比较了 2015 年至 2021 年使用疾病相关关键字和非医学科学关键字发表的文章数量。出乎意料的是，与大流行前时期（2015-2019 年）相比，我们发现所有研究领域的出版物数量在 2019 年至 2020 年或 2021 年突然减少。对医学研究的分配效应可能被大流行的更强效应所掩盖，也可能在未来几年显现出来。发表的论文数量大幅减少可能会对科学进步产生负面影响，包括对除 COVID-19 以外强烈影响人类的其他疾病的理解和治疗。
