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

## TL;DR

The study found that during the pandemic, otolaryngology papers, especially those related to COVID-19, were published much faster than before.

## Contribution

The paper reveals that journals accelerated processing times for papers during the pandemic, particularly for those related to COVID-19.

## Key findings

- Papers related to COVID-19 had significantly shorter submission-to-acceptance times compared to pre-pandemic and non-COVID-19 pandemic papers.
- The most notable reductions in processing times were observed in laryngology and otology/neurotology disciplines.
- The study suggests that pandemic-era practices could set a precedent for faster post-pandemic publishing schedules.

## 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 published during the COVID-19 era. Among them, 180 (37%) papers were not 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