Scientific American - USA (2022-03)

March 2022, ScientificAmerican.com 35

willing to embrace measures such
as masks and social distancing.
By some measures COVID has
also hampered scientific produc-
tivity overall, researchers suggest-
ed in a paper in Nature Communi-
cations late last year. Some of the
2020 survey data revealed that sci-
entists were spending an average
of seven fewer hours per week
working on research. The group,
led by Dashun Wang of North-
western University, wrote that the
decrease in productivity will likely
have lasting effects, with scientists
reporting fewer publications, col-

laborations, submitted papers and

new projects started during the

pandemic. Lockdowns, school clo-

sures and other changes took a

disproportionate toll on women

scientists juggling work and child

care—a major problem that re-

quires urgent redress.

But a publication dip is precisely

what we would expect when scien-

tists shift from day-to-day research

to an emergency response. Placing

papers in journals becomes second-

ary to fixing problems. Dealing

with urgent issues is one of the

most important roles of the public-

ly funded scientific ecosystem,

which has millions of researchers

effectively on retainer. When glob-

al crises arise, they organize, learn

and coordinate. And that, ulti-

mately, leads to solutions.

Joseph Bak-Coleman is a postdoctoral

fellow at the University of Washington Center

for an Informed Public. He studies how

communications technology affects collective

decision-making.

Carl T. Bergstrom is a professor of biology

at the University of Washington. He studies

how evolution encodes information within

genomes and how institutions and behavioral

norms influence scientific communication.

Illustration by James Yang