@article{5ed96ecd4eb8467fb360693098093d63,
title = "Impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the research environment and motivation of researchers in Japan",
abstract = "The environment surrounding researchers has changed significantly in the face of COVID-19 restrictions. An online self-reported questionnaire was completed by 10,557 participants between June 15 and 19, 2020. The impact on work/research activities and harassments under COVID-19 conditions was higher among researchers (1963) compared to non-researchers (8572). We further examined the effect of COVID-19 restrictions on 300 researchers. Women were significantly more likely to report being harassed than males. The overall “decrease in research motivation” was higher in women. The restrictions on research activities because of COVID-19 restrictions caused future anxiety and a decrease in research motivation.",
keywords = "COVID-19, Disaster science, Harassment, Motivation, Researcher",
author = "Yasuhiro Miki and Natsuko Chubachi and Fumihiko Imamura and Nobuo Yaegashi and Kiyoshi Ito",
note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the Core Research Cluster of Disaster Sciencs in Tohoku University (Designated National University). Funding Information: Changes in the quantity and quality of the research conducted during the COVID-19 restrictions were positively associated with changes in motivation and anxiety ( Table 7 ). The quality and amount of research are considered to be important indicators for researchers to be evaluated. However, it is necessary to investigate the contents more concretely to formulate future measures. In addition, although “very anxious” is thought to lead to “Significantly decreased motivation,” the relationship between them could not be clarified in this study. Many Japanese researchers are funded by the government – such as KAKENHI (The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology or Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) [ 28 ]. In addition, public disclosure of research results such as “scholarly papers,” “presentations at conferences,” and “writing of books” is adopted as an evaluation item for academic staff at most universities or institutes [ 29 ]. Researchers are worried that research results will be required as usual, despite the delays in their research (because of work restrictions faced while society combats COVID-19). Some researchers are further worried that these issues may affect the acquisition, and maintenance, of academic positions in the future as such, it is hoped that the policy for researchers working through the COVID-19 crisis will be promptly decided upon. In addition, it has been reported that Japanese university teachers are exhausted from adapting to the new style of taking classes class [ 30 ]. In this survey, researchers displayed fear concerning the time that would be needed to be spent on preparing for the new on-demand or remote lecture patterns. It is known that researchers who are obliged to both teach and conduct research have lower levels of well-being related to demands and control than those who are obliged to do either one or the other [ 16 ]. One of the researchers' concerns was that library materials and databases were no longer available because of campus lockdowns. As such, it is expected that the development of online facilities at Japanese universities will be promoted multilaterally in response to taking social measures against COVID-19 [ 8 , 9 ]. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors",
year = "2020",
month = dec,
doi = "10.1016/j.pdisas.2020.100128",
language = "English",
volume = "8",
journal = "Progress in Disaster Science",
issn = "2590-0617",
publisher = "Elsevier Ltd",
}