Actually shorts wear shorts and normally not caught off guard - very few shorts loose their pants or shorts.
They will have 2 weeks between announcement and actual uplisting - if I remember the number it was 9 million shares short - that is peanuts and shorts will come out clean in 1-2 days.
However if uplisting news and study results are announced on same day - it could make the stock jump much higher and can have impact
Are you sure about this Saltz? The uplisting change is conducted electronically... Stock and warrant holders don’t require any physical transaction during the transition... I don’t have any official rulings on this but I wouldn’t think the shorts have to closeout it’s position on an uplisting.