The CoronaVirus causing havoc globally was first discovered in 2019 in, Wuhan China, and sooner than expected it caused multiple outbreaks across countries all around the globe in February 2020.
The scientists were stunned and focused on tackling the surge of issues in biology and eager to work on the new virus - COVID-19.
It was this time when Nevan Krogan, a systems biologist came to the fore to establish interdisciplinary collaboration through the University of California’s Quantitative Biology Institute (QBI), San Francisco.
The team that started with 10 scientists straight away jumped to 12 different teams all in a week. The first virtual meeting amidst a global lockdown was chaotic but uplifting.
Surprisingly, different disciplines had fit together, and just in few months, the collaboration resulted in several findings and research papers to aid the medical community in coming up with a treatment of the infection.
Krogan was even found wondering what stopped the global scientists from coming together in this way, why did it take a dreadful pandemic for them to collaborate and make such rapid progress, can this be used for other diseases as well?
Although the pandemic brought these scientists together it has also interrupted many projects and almost stopped international travel and therefore on-site visits for many scientists.
Thus this difficult time could’ve initiated a global collaboration but it might have also intensified the long-standing hurdles between countries like China and the United States, who’ve been in political tensions.
Impact of COVID-19 on Research Collaborations
When the pandemic hit, many science leaders were in support of leveraging knowledge and collaborating with scientists all over the globe. But it was only partly achieved.
For the first few months in the pandemic, a surge in international collaborations was visible but on COVID-19- related research papers and not otherwise. But as time passed domestic articles were again on the rise.
Sooner, the international collaborations on the COVID-19 research were similar if not equal to those on any other projects. The pandemic started a ripple but probably it is also the reason for the slowdown.
Role of Team Dynamics in Research
While some scientists were collaborating there were scientists who were studying these collaborations, to explore and find the team dynamic that works in international collaborations to make them successful.
They were eager to investigate the influence of the structure of a team and its diversity on the quality of research being carried out. This arose the need to look beyond the standard way and tools of judging research.
Earlier the investigation involved a simple viewing of impact by counting the citations and it is not absolute this time. Time demands innovation even in observation.
It has been observed that in the research on coronavirus and teams researching on the same shrank over time, now this collaboration involves fewer nations than the ones involved in it before the pandemic even began.
Is this the case because the scientific community across countries is very occupied handling the pressing issues in their province or it is natural and bound to happen.
To make sense of this decline a team with diverse expertise is needed and it is beyond the scope of understanding of you and me.
US-China Collaborations in COVID-19 Research
In the early months of the pandemic, the two main nations with great scientific outputs collaborating were the United States and China, it is evident that they’ve paired more than any other nations.
The collaboration on the COVID-19 research between the United States and China is way higher than that for non- COVID-19 projects, according to a finding by the Natures.
However, as the pandemic took severe turns, the United States turned towards the United Kingdom for research collaborations.
This coincides with the decline in global collaboration in research on COVID-19 from China and a fall in the number of cases in the country. Since the government put a restriction on the flow of information.
The QBI, University of California had established connections with China before the pandemic and it was smooth. But Krogan said that it got harder over time. He feels that the pandemic led to a political trigger.
Reason for Slowdown
Some of the reasons for China stepping back from the collaborations could be related to government interventions, the chance of intellectual property theft, or fear of espionage.
Another factor could be the change in the national policies of China brought in the year 2020, which demands that the Chinese researchers not be evaluated more on the volume of their international work but the quality of papers.
Not just this, it also demands that the assessment should include a consideration for the research papers they have published in Chinese research journals.
As the data is difficult to comprehend from Chinese-language journals it might have played a role in declining the international collaborations from China with other countries.
Hope That Still Prevails
Although the contributions from China are on a decline, some new collaborators are on the rise. Some researchers are optimistic about the rise in collaborative publications.
Even if the Chinese government is trying to influence global collaboration, if the researchers in China want to collaborate, they will find a way; science and research won’t stop under political influence.
Written by - Akanksha Sharma
Edited by - Akanksha Sharma
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