Pandemic productivity in academia: using ecological momentary assessment to explore the impact of COVID-19 on research productivity

The unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns on mothers around the world were identified as a concern in the early months of the pandemic. Almost immediately, women decreased work hours and women researchers reported reductions in research time as research publications by women dropped precipitously. In order to examine day-to-day activities of academics during June and July 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we utilised Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to ask 130 academics around the world about their current activities at six random times per day over the course of one week. Results showed that parents, especially mothers, were less likely to have uninterrupted work time and that mothers were 3 times more likely than fathers to multitask, nearly 5 times more likely than fathers to multitask while caring for children and 4.25 times more likely than fathers to be caring for children when contacted. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on academic mothers has many long-term implications on career progression and alleviating this gendered impact should be a priority for adminstrators worldwide.