From March to May, more than 7,000 papers on the COVID-19 pandemic have appeared, and the rate at which these articles are being released has only increased. In the UK alone, they have announced that nearly 1,600 participants have been recruited to 28 separate COVID-19 studies.
Unfortunately, a huge amount of this important new information is not reaching its target audience. The average time to read a research paper is 20–25 minutes, meaning that members of the public that are interested in the science behind the contemporary crisis are forced to put aside considerable time in order to do keep up with new developments. . This is a deterrent to curious members of the public who may wish to become more knowledgeable on the subject, but don’t want to spend so much time in order to do so. Dcyphr looks to tackle this issue by synthesising lengthy papers into more concise summaries, allowing people to find out the key findings of a paper, but in a 2–3 x shorter time period. Employing specialised content creators, dcyphr ensures that the quality of the information within the summaries is analogous to that seen in the original full-length research paper, but able to be consumed at a much faster rate.
Time is not the only barrier either. In fact, only 34% of U.S. born Americans have a four-year college degree and even with a high level of education, research papers are difficult to understand. Difficult to interpret even to college graduates, the complex jargon that is characteristic of present research means that already hard to follow scientific processes are being misunderstood. Dcyphr’s summaries transform newly discovered science with a much more accessible lexicon, allowing people from all educational levels to comprehend the progress being made in understanding COVID-19. In our fight against the virus, it is imperative that all parties interested in expanding their knowledge are able to do so. Dcyphr empowers everyone, regardless of their educational background, to read original research in an accessible way.
Best of all, all the COVID-19 information on dcyphr is 100% free. Whilst research papers are often published to exclusive journals or fee demanding websites, dcyphr’s summaries are free to use for anyone who is interested. This maximizes dcyphr’s reach for everyone, regardless of background.This is particularly important when considering that many people may be gathering their information about COVID-19 from media, friends and family, and allowing the science behind the virus to be expressed clearly helps to debunk any urban myths that may be developing.
Dcyphr updates our COVID-19 summaries daily to keep up with the influx of new research. Anyone can request a paper summary, and it will be summarized for them. We already have almost 100 summaries, but if the want you isn’t there, request it. We bring the science to you.
