First, I want to pay tribute to the two Chinese ophthalmologists, Drs. Li Wenliang and Mei Zhongming, who were among the first medical professionals to lose their lives in the current coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Late last year, Dr. Wenliang tried to warn colleagues about the appearance of a severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like coronavirus illness in his hospital and was then officially admonished and threatened with prosecution by local authorities. He is thought to have acquired the virus when treating an infected patient with acute angle-closure glaucoma.
Soon after the recognition of the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple manuscripts concerning this virus began to be submitted to the Survey of Ophthalmology. These have been declined because this journal is intended, at least in its Major Reviews section, to provide its readers with critical literature-based reviews that are expert perspectives on subjects of clinical relevance to ophthalmologists. Such reviews require that enough time has passed that at least a partial understanding of the subject has been reached. Most Major Reviews have some variation of “further study is required” (and often suggestions on how this should be accomplished) in their conclusions. For COVID-19, this would be a gross understatement.
The COVID-19 pandemic, while certainly clinically relevant, has resulted in information arriving at such speed that a review up to date at its writing would be out of date by its publication even a few months later. Literally hundreds of articles on COVID-19 are being published in medical journals each month, and to provide any meaningful perspective on such a dynamic subject would be a daunting task even for a weekly or online journal.
One of the common reasons that an outline or manuscript is sent back to its authors is that the research on the proposed subject is evolving, and even tentative conclusions are hard to reach. Often I encourage them to resubmit in a year or two when more data are available. This is the case with ocular manifestations of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the meantime, there are many other remarkable advances in ophthalmology that the Survey of Ophthalmology will continue to bring to the attention of our readers.