Why has Korea published few papers on COVID-19? 4 Researchers share their views
Around January last year when the COVID-19 pandemic had started spreading around the world, South Korea had the highest number of cases outside of China. Since the outbreak, South Korea's response to the infectious disease has been appreciated both within South Korea and internationally. The government’s rapid response enabled the country to control the spread of the virus and successfully flattened the epidemic curve.
While the response to the pandemic brought South Korea to limelight, there has been a growing global interest in South Korean research; the country is counted among one of the leaders in global science and research. It is remarkable, therefore, that the number of COVID-19 papers by Korean researchers is low compared to the papers being published around the world.
In fact, as of 26 November, if you search for COVID-19 research on the Korea Open Access platform for Researchers (KOAR) provided by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI), out of 100,882 COVID-19 papers, 760 papers included South Korean authors, accounting for only 0.8%.
What is the reason behind this gap between the response to COVID-19 and the research around it? To know more, I reached out to a bunch of South Korean researchers for their views. Below are the questions I posed to them:
- How do you assess South Korea's response to the COVID-19 outbreak?
- What do you think is the reason that South Korean researchers have published fewer research papers on COVID-19 compared to other countries?
- Will the lack of research affect the national response to COVID-19 and handling any other pandemic situations in the long term?
Most of the researchers who responded pointed to the need to build an efficient and comprehensive clinical and epidemiological data management system and investment in basic research. Read on to find in-depth and insightful responses from each of the four researchers.
Present COVID-19 / former MERS epidemiological Investigator, Gyeonggi Infectious Disease Control Center (GIDCC), South Korea
Assistant Professor, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, South Korea
Q. How do you assess South Korea's response to the COVID-19 outbreak?
In South Korea, the Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) has been regularly conducted for local government officials in charge of infectious diseases at community health centers. Although there was some confusion in the beginning, in my view, these trainings have strengthened the capacity of administrative officials in Korea. I believe that the capabilities of the community health centers, which are at the forefront of the COVID-19 measures are better than most other countries.
Q. What do you think is the reason that South Korean researchers have published fewer research papers on COVID-19 compared to other countries?
Since the measures taken to reduce transmission of COVID-19 were better in Korea compared to other countries, there were fewer patients and in turn the scope for research became narrow. Similarly, there are few COVID-19 related research papers in Taiwan. Another reason for fewer papers is the lack of a comprehensive management system to collect and connect the clinical data generated by hospitals and epidemiological data managed separately by local governments.
Community health centers have been the source of epidemiological research data in South Korea. However, for the first time these centers experienced massive data management work through the spread of COVID-19. The lack of centralized data is one of the reasons for fewer research papers coming out of South Korea. In the future, a qualitative and quantitative improvement in research papers can be expected only when a system is established to facilitate data linkage and collection of central, organizational, and hospital data at the initial stage of an outbreak.
Q. Will the lack of research affect the national response to COVID-19 and handling any other pandemic situations in the long term?
I think the national response in terms of controlling the disease has been good. However, as we still have a problem in data management capabilities, it seems necessary to focus on this to enable the publishing of research results based on the epidemiological data. Separately, the medical staff is technically competent to handle the treatment of the disease. All that is needed are continuous efforts and improvement in securing sufficient sickbeds and a balanced public-private partnership.
COVID-19 Taskforce, Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine, South Korea
Clinical Professor, Dept. of Laboratory Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Severance Hospital, South Korea
Q. How do you assess South Korea's response to the COVID-19 outbreak?
The assessment will vary depending on the focus of the various sectors such as society, economics, quarantine and academic research. The measures taken were fairly efficient. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) did a really good job. However, I think it is a problem that some decision-makers publicly portray that COVID-19 is not a big deal and just focus on certain outcomes, and not on fundamental support and a long-term perspective.
Q. What do you think is the reason that South Korean researchers have published fewer research papers on COVID-19 compared to other countries?
From the standpoint of doing both clinical work and academic research in a medical institution, to be honest, it is quite hard to carry out several social roles required at a time as an expert. There are not enough researchers and funds available to Korean researchers to be world-class in research. In the long run, more investment will need to be made, but the priority of which sectors to invest more in will require discussion. There are several labs in South Korea that conduct world-class research in a challenging environment. It would be necessary to support and provide long-term investments to such labs.
Q. Will the lack of research affect the national response to COVID-19 and handling any other pandemic situations in the long term?
Academic research should be viewed from a long-term perspective. Nonetheless, national responses to COVID-19 or other pandemics are not necessarily linked to relevant research results. Korea's response to COVID-19 was successful not just because our technology is far ahead of other countries. In my view, the world's best labs for coronavirus are in Germany, UK, Netherlands, USA, and Hong Kong. However, from the results so far, South Korea's response to COVID-19 has been better than that of other countries. I think that we made right decisions in a timely manner. Success is possible only with good judgment and luck.
Biologist, Molecular Virology
Principal Investigator, Harbin Institute of Technology, China
Q. How do you assess South Korea's response to the COVID-19 outbreak?
First of all, I have to say that I am not an expert on COVID-19 research. However, as a virologist, I can attempt to provide answers from a scientific perspective and common knowledge perspective too. South Korea is one of the countries which have responded to the pandemic in the most efficient manner apart from Taiwan. This fact has already been confirmed by the world's leading media and scientists. There is no doubt about it.
Q. What do you think is the reason that South Korean researchers have published fewer research papers on COVID-19 compared to other countries?
In terms of research, South Korea has not originally conducted research on viruses actively. As you can see from the news the ‘Ministry of Health and Welfare’ and the ‘Ministry of Science and ICT’ are newly establishing or expanding research centers to conduct research on viruses including the COVID-19 outbreak. Infectious disease research in South Korea is an area that has never seen large national investments compared to some advanced countries. So, of course, there are fewer researchers, less infrastructure, and less research dedicated to understanding COVID-19.
Q. Will the lack of research affect the national response to COVID-19 and handling any other pandemic situations in the long term?
The outcome of the pandemic is fairly uncertain. Therefore, the country must strategically invest in the public science sector in the long-term for the wellbeing of its people, regardless of economic benefits. As pointed out during Japan’s material export restriction last year, South Korea has a science and technology system that focuses on application-oriented research and development due to rapid industrialization. In the long term, however, South Korea would be in a position where it will have to receive help from foreign researchers and pharmaceutical companies in such situations unless it increases support for basic research in areas such as infectious diseases and material parts and fosters it in the long term.
M.D, M.S, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, South Korea
Public Health Doctor, Seoul Detention Center, South Korea
Q. How do you assess South Korea's response to the COVID-19 outbreak?
South Korea's response to the COVID-19 outbreak can be generally evaluated positively. This is because the number of infections and death has been well controlled. However, I think it is necessary to further discuss whether it is appropriate to issue border control in the early stages or whether the recent standards of social distance are adequate. Also, there have been some shortcomings in the efficient utilization of medical personnel including public health doctors.
Q. What do you think is the reason that South Korean researchers have published fewer research papers on COVID-19 compared to other countries?
With respect to the research, efforts were made to disclose COVID-19 related data, but basically, information was not sufficiently shared, and, in my view, the slowdown has been due to the state-led system. There was no platform to quickly share information about patients' clinical progress in the early stages at every hospital or treatment center. It eventually led to lack of research.
During the MERS outbreak, most patients were concentrated in university hospitals, so doctors with research capabilities had patient data, whereas currently, the fact that there have not been many patients with COVID-19 in university hospitals has also likely influenced the uptake of COVID-19 research in South Korea.
Q. Will the lack of research affect the national response to COVID-19 and handling any other pandemic situations in the long term?
In March, the Korean Association of Public Health Doctors (KAPHD) proposed a data platform that instantly shares COVID-19 clinical information. In situations where the pathological mechanism is unclear, by collecting and sharing data and researching it, we can identify factors that affect the treatment and management of diseases such as severity classification. Although this proposal has not been realized yet, I believe that to prepare for other pandemics in the future, relevant legislations and policies should be in place to facilitate data sharing.
I would like to thank Jong Hun Kim, Ki Ho Hong, Woo Jae Kim , and Se Jin Choi for sharing their thoughts. Such discussions can help South Korean researchers communicate with the wider scientific community and bring about a positive change in the research landscape and help the nation manage such situations better in the future.
In the current situation where the world is looking up to researchers to manage the pandemic, sharing ideas and views on the COVID-19 research environment would spark important discussions. Therefore, I would like to express my gratitude not only to the researchers who contributed to this article but also to the researchers and medical workers who are helping us with the pandemic.
Please feel free to share your thoughts on the COVID-19 research environment in your country in the comments section below!
* If you want to find the latest literature and insights on COVID-19 related topics, please visit the platform R Concept.
* To enable the spread of timely, accurate information related to the COVID-19, Editage has enabled the speedy dissemination of COVID-19 research by editing and translating over 850 papers on the global pandemic at no charge to researchers. Editage continues to offer support to researchers worldwide.
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