Fast-Tracking of Publication Times of Otolaryngology Papers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Duek, Irit; Muhanna, Nidal; Oron, Yahav; Shraga, Yohai; Ungar, Omer J.

doi:10.1055/s-0043-1767806

Acessibilidade / Reportar erro

Brasil

International Archives of Otorhinolaryngology

Español English

Brasil

Español English

sumário « anterior atual seguinte »

Sumário

Original Research • iao 28 (1) • 2024 • https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0043-1767806 copy

Fast-Tracking of Publication Times of Otolaryngology Papers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Introduction

The outbreak of COVID-19 has produced an unprecedented number of trials and articles.

Objective

To study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (ORL-HNS) journal processing times.

Methods

Original papers search of published in selected ORL-HNS journals in terms of times from submission-to-acceptance (S-A), acceptance-to-first online publication (A-P), and submission-to-online publication (S-P). Papers were divided into those published in the pre-COVID-19 era and those during the COVID-19 era. The latter were further divided into unrelated to COVID-19 and related to COVID-19.

Results

A total of 487 articles from 5 selected ORL-HNS journals were included, of which 236 (48.5%) were published during the pre-COVID-19 era and 251 (51.5%) were publishedduring theCOVID-19era.Amongthem, 180 (37%) papers werenot related to COVID-19, and 71 (14.5%) were related to COVID-19. The S-A duration of COVID-19-related articles was significantly shorter compared with that of papers submitted in the pre-COVID-19 era and to papers submitted in the COVID-19 era but unrelated to COVID-19 (median 6 to 34 days compared to 65 to 125 and 46 to 127, respectively) in all 5 journals. The most prominent reductions in S-A and S-P times were documented in the laryngology and otology/neurotology disciplines, respectively.

Conclusions

Processing times of the included papers were significantly shorter in most of the selected ORL-HNS journals during the COVID-19 era compared with the pre-COVID-19 era. COVID-19-related papers were processed more rapidly than non-COVID-19-related papers. These findings testify to the possibility of markedly expediting S-P times and hopefully set a precedent for postpandemic publishing schedules.

Level Of Evidence: 5

Keywords
COVID-19; pandemic; publishing; research; otolaryngology head and neck surgery; ORL-HNS

Journal	Country of Origin	Number of Issues Per Year	Founded	Official Journal Society
Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery	USA	12	1978	AAO-HNS, the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation
Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology	USA	6	2016	The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.
European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology	Germany	12	1864	Confederation of European Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Head and Neck Surgery
Auris Nasus Larynx	Japan	6	1973	The Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Society of Japan, Inc.
Acta Otolaryngologica		12	1918

			Journal					Total
			Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery	Auris Nasus Lartynx	Acta Otolaryngologica	European Archives Otolaryngology	Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology	Total
Discipline	Rhinology and para-nasal sinuses	Count	23	16	20	23	12	94
		% within Discipline	24.5%	17.0%	21.3%	24.5%	12.8%	100.0%
		% within Journal	18.9%	22.9%	16.7%	19.3%	21.4%	19.3%
		% of Total	4.7%	3.3%	4.1%	4.7%	2.5%	19.3%
	Laryngology	Count	20	12	15	22	9	78
		% within Discipline	25.6%	15.4%	19.2%	28.2%	11.5%	100.0%
		% within Journal	16.4%	17.1%	12.5%	18.5%	16.1%	16.0%
		% of Total	4.1%	2.5%	3.1%	4.5%	1.8%	16.0%
	Otology/ Neurotology	Count	21	16	60	23	11	131
		% within Discipline	16.0%	12.2%	45.8%	17.6%	8.4%	100.0%
		% within Journal	17.2%	22.9%	50.0%	19.3%	19.6%	26.9%
		% of Total	4.3%	3.3%	12.3%	4.7%	2.3%	26.9%
	Comprehensive (general) ORL	Count	35	11	11	27	12	96
		% within Discipline	36.5%	11.5%	11.5%	28.1%	12.5%	100.0%
		% within Journal	28.7%	15.7%	9.2%	22.7%	21.4%	19.7%
		% of Total	7.2%	2.3%	2.3%	5.5%	2.5%	19.7%
	Head and Neck	Count	23	15	14	24	12	88
		% within Discipline	26.1%	17.0%	15.9%	27.3%	13.6%	100.0%
		% within Journal	18.9%	21.4%	11.7%	20.2%	21.4%	18.1%
		% of Total	4.7%	3.1%	2.9%	4.9%	2.5%	18.1%
Total		Count	122	70	120	119	56	487
		% within Discipline	25.1%	14.4%	24.6%	24.4%	11.5%	100.0%
		% within Journal	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
		% of Total	25.1%	14.4%	24.6%	24.4%	11.5%	100.0%

Era	Median (IQR), of processing durations (days)
Era	S-A	p Value*		A-P	p Value*		S-P	p Value*
Pre-COVID 19 Era	89 (56-133)	=.014 <.001	<.001	27 (17-48)	<.001	<.001	130 (86-180)	=.004 <.001	<.001
COVID 19 Era, unrelated	68 (45-120)			26 (15-40)			105 (72-158)
COVID 19 Era, related	22 (5-36)			15 (19-22)			39 (21-56)

Journal	Era	Median (IQR), of processing durations (days)
Journal	Era	S-A	p Value*		A-P	p Value*		S-P	p Value*
Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery	Pre-COVID 19 Era	125 (92-167)	<.001	<.001	28 (25-49)	=.034 <.001	<.001	159 (123-217)	<.001	<.001
	COVID 19 Era unrelated	127 (68-183)			41 (29-51)			184 (137-226)
	COVID 19 Era, Related	6 (2-28)			19 (15-24)			8 (20-48
Auris Nasus Larynx	Pre-COVID 19 Era	124 (73-174)	<.001	<.001	20 (15-26)	=.001	<.001	153 (102-199)	<.001	<.001
	COVID 19 Era unrelated	111 (74-1 54)			17 (14-25)			136 (95-177)
	COVID 19 Era, Related	6 (3-19)			6 (4-14)			16 (8-27)
Acta Otolaryngologica	Pre-COVID 19 Era	71 (51-90)	<.001 =.011	=.001	38 (29-89)	=.002		118 (89-163)	<.001	=.001
	COVID 19 Era unrelated	46 (38-63)			29 (25-39)			79 (64-107)
	COVID 19 Era, Related	34 (22-37)			37 (21-52)			62 (50-80)
European Archives Otolaryngology	Pre-COVID 19 Era	65 (34-111)	=.003	=.006	11 (7-17)	=.004	=.001	78 (47-129)	=.002	=.004
	COVID 19 Era unrelated	62 (36-109)			12 (6-16)			70 (50-126)
	COVID 19 Era, Related	29 (22-58)			6 (4-9)			37 (29-74)
Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology	Pre-COVID 19 Era	105 58-135)	=.002	<.001	48 (28-65)	<.001	<.001	149 (90-213)	<.001	<.001
	COVID 19 Era unrelated	88 (53-128)			51 (33-73)			128 (97-217)
	COVID 19 Era, Related	33 (15-56)			15 (13-22)			51 (41-75)

Disipline	Era	Median (IQR), of processing durations (days)
Disipline	Era	S-A	p Value*		A-P	p Value*		S-P	p Value*
Rhinology and para-nasal sinuses	Pre-COVID 19 Era	93 (55-140)	<.001	<.001	26 (16-49)			134 (90-188)	<.001	<.001
	COVID 19 Era, unrelated	88 (54-129)			25 (14-39)			116 (73-166)
	COVID 19 Era, Related	28 (8-33)			19 (12-33)			50 (24-66)
Laryngology	Pre-COVID 19 Era	106 (65-173)	=.028 =.006	=.002	25 (12-47)	=.009		146 (77-218)	=.002
	COVID 19 Era, unrelated	61 (38-105)			27 (15-40)			92 (62-177)
	COVID 19 Era, Related	34 (4-38)			14 (9-19)			46 (16-56)
Otology/ Neurotology	Pre-COVID 19 Era	79 (53-113)	=.016	=.005	33 (21-56)		=.021	123 (92-171)	=.048 =.004	=.001
	COVID 19 Era, unrelated	67 (45-126)			26 (17-44)			104 (75-144)
	COVID 19 Era, Related	26 (11-64)			18 (7-28)			46 (34-85)
Comprehensive (general) ORL	Pre-COVID 19 Era	70 (49-131)	<.001	<.001	25 (14-34)		=.004	110 (74-171)	<.001	<.001
	COVID 19 Era, unrelated	55 (33-90)			17 (14-41)			78 (47-154)
	COVID 19 Era, Related	13 (3-36)			16 (9-23)			35 (20-51)
Head and Neck	Pre-COVID 19 Era	99 (64-134)	=.002	=.002	26 (12-37)			131 (99-170)	=.001	=.003
	COVID 19 Era, unrelated	79 (51-130)			27 (12-40)			121 (77-178)
	COVID 19 Era, Related	25 (9-29)			8 (5-17)			33 (13-46)

Fundação Otorrinolaringologia Rua Artur de Azevedo 46, Zip code 05404-000,, São Paulo/SP, Brazil, Phone: +55 11 3062 4097, E-mail: iaorl@iaorl.org - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: iaorl@iaorl.org

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[1] Address for correspondence Omer J. Ungar, MD, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, 6 Weizmann Street, 6423906, Tel Aviv, Israel (email: ungaromer@gmail.com).