Foreword to the special section on implications of the COVID pandemic

Abstract

Peer-reviewed academic journals and special issues are no easy match to make. Special occasions beget special issues, and such occasions are often fleeting moments compared to the lengthy process of peer-review. By the time (and if) articles worthy of publishing are submitted, evaluated, revised, edited, and finally approved, history may have moved on. As is often cited, U.S. scholarturned-statesman Henry Kissinger once suggested that “the analyst runs no risk [...] if his conclusions prove wrong, he can write another treatise”. However, time is not really on the side of the scholar. One’s conclusions and even the apropos for the quest for those conclusions may become outdated — and then the cycle of treatise-writing and review cannot simply begin anew. (...)