ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology

To read the full abstract: BMJ. 2019;367:l6460. doi: 10.1136/bmj.l6460

Short summary: There is wide variation around the world in how researchers manage their work-life balance.

Comment: The Christmas edition of The BMJ published this observational study that examined more than 49 000 manuscripts and 76 000 peer review online submissions to The BMJ and The BMJ Open. They assessed whether the submissions were made on weekends, national holidays or late at night. Clear and consistent differences were seen between countries. Chinese researchers most often worked on weekends and after midnight; whereas researchers in India and Scandinavian countries, which have a greater focus on work-life balance, were more likely to submit their papers during 9 to 5 hours on weekdays.

What is the right way? It will be interesting to assess the rate of burnout of researchers in China compared with other countries. As for now, we recommend you stop reading and go have a great afternoon outdoors.