“Letter to Editor” Challenges and Opportunities of Research during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Dear editorCOVID-19 disease is an emerging phenomenon that is spreading rapidly around the world and has caused great concern to people around the world (1) . This epidemic has also created challenges for health services (2) . The result of this great epidemic is the filling of hospital beds, the extreme fatigue of medical teams, the severe shortage of personal protective equipment, the infection of hospital staff, the shortage of personnel, and the spread of disease and concerns in different countries of the world (3) . One of the challenges created during the Corona Pandemic is the reduction in the number of patients with dangerous non-covid diseases, including heart diseases, cancer, respiratory, kidney, and other diseases, referred to hospitals and medical centers. Patients with these diseases are not willing to refer to hospitals for treatment due to fear of getting infected with the coronavirus. This issue, on one hand, is one of the serious concerns of health officials regarding the health status of the people (4,5) , and on the other hand, it has affected other areas of the health system, including research. Regarding the importance and status of research, there is no doubt that research is important and vital for society (6) . Sustainable and comprehensive development in any country significantly depends on the quantitative and qualitative expansion of research activities in that country (7) . According to the evidence, before the outbreak of coronavirus disease, some issues such as shortage of funds for research, failure of financial support for research projects, cumbersome administrative regulations (bureaucracy), lack of clear rules for evaluating research activities, and limited use of research results were among the research barriers in the country (6)(7)(8) . The outbreak of Coronavirus disease has also posed research challenges. One of these challenges is the limitation of easy access to research samples. In fact, the decrease in hospitalization of patients in medical centers has made sampling difficult and limited for many studies performed in the clinical environment. Also, specialized wards of hospitals, which were the most important sampling center of most clinical trials, were changed to coronavirus wards (9) and this also prevented access to research samples other than coronavirus samples. On the other hand, the outbreak of coronavirus disease, limited travel, and closure of dormitories (10) have caused sampling challenges in the dissertations of graduate students. Although the coronavirus pandemic imposed many problems on all indicators of society, including public health, it was an opportunity that led to the flourishing of some capabilities in the country such as the pervasiveness and development of virtual education. During the coronavirus pandemic, the authorities became more and more aware of the importance of distance education and e-learning, and it seems that virtual education in our country has entered a new phase (11) . The opportunity created by the virtualization of activities ...