TITLE:
COVID-19 Times: Impact on Information Generation and Data Sharing
AUTHORS:
Eden Rodríguez-Flores, Saúl Gómez-Manzo, Jaime Marcial-Quino, Roberto Arreguín-Espinosa, Eduardo Rodríguez-Bustamante
KEYWORDS:
COVID-19, Laboratories Closure, Data Availability, Information Repositories, Research Papers, Infodemics, Vaccines, Variants and Reopening
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Internet of Things,
Vol.12 No.3,
July
12,
2022
ABSTRACT: At the beginning of 2020, human activities were interrupted by a new
virus, identified as SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease. The scientific
area was no exception: for a certain period, researchers around the world were
forced to leave their laboratories and work remotely.
There was a global necessity for finding alternatives focused on generating
knowledge and publishing data, so repositories of scientific information, such
as databases, represented strong support. In the specific case of life
sciences, different strategies allowed rapid compilation of data and its
sharing worldwide. Therefore, in this work, the impact of the SARS-CoV-2
pandemic on the amount of peer-reviewed and published papers during COVID-19 times was analyzed along
with the role of databases. Our results pointed out that an increase in the
number of papers belonging to different knowledge fields took place, with the
medical field being the most significant. On the other hand, the complete
genome of the new virus was sequenced, and repositories were created with
sufficient data for monitoring, preventing, and controlling its dissemination. This was the case for the generation
of vaccines in addition to potential candidates for drugs against COVID-19.
However, although in 2021, vaccines allowed us to gradually return to our activities, databases and the
generation of other repositories remain a key point for facing new strains and adapting to a
new reality. Finally, this paper discusses joint efforts to tackle the obstacles of the
pandemic, not only from a
medical but also from the point of view regarding the fight against misinformation.