bims-evares Biomed News
on Evaluation of research
Issue of 2019–04–21
sixteen papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society



  1. J Emerg Med. 2019 Apr 16. pii: S0736-4679(19)30227-6. [Epub ahead of print]
       BACKGROUND: A significant increase has been observed in scientific research in emergency medicine in the past 10 years. However, the contribution of emergency physicians (EPs) to the emergency medicine literature is not known.
    OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyze the contribution of EPs to the emergency medicine literature and their scientific publication productivity during a recent 10-year period.
    METHODS: Manuscripts published by EPs in emergency medicine journals in the Science Citation Index Expanded database during a recent 10-year period (2008-2017) were included in the study. The number of articles published by EPs, the distribution of the manuscripts by country and year, the impact factors, the citations per article, and the Hirsch (H) index were determined.
    RESULTS: A total of 15,281 original articles were published in a total of 24 journals by all EPs worldwide between 2008 and 2017. EPs from the United States published the highest number of articles (54.4% of all articles), followed by Canada (7.2%), Australia (6.2%), Turkey (4.3%), and the UK (4.1%). The countries with the highest H index were the United States (80), Canada (43), and the UK (40), respectively. South Korea had the highest increase in scientific production during the 10-year period (average annual growth rate of 17.89%).
    CONCLUSIONS: The number of articles increased from 2008 to 2017 in the whole world and in the United States. EPs from the United States were the most productive, both qualitatively and quantitatively.
    Keywords:  bibliometrics; emergency medicine; emergency physician; publication productivity; research
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jemermed.2019.03.021
  2. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2019 Apr 18.
      A bibliometric analysis was performed to assess historical and recent research trends regarding e-waste studies from 1998 to 2018. Documents related to e-waste were identified from the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science© (WoS) database, and a total of 3311 academic articles was retrieved. The analysis was performed from four main aspects: (1) publication activity by year, by WoS category, and by geographic distribution; (2) journals; (3) most-cited papers; and (4) top 10 countries and author keyword analysis. The number of publications concerning e-waste issues has increased substantially over the last 20 years, especially in the environmental science category, and more than a third of the publications were produced in China (1181 records). Waste Management and Environmental Science & Technology were the most sought-after journals for disseminating the results. Studies related to "e-waste flow analysis," "recycling," "recovery of precious metals," and "risk assessment of recycling areas" have been the most common for several years. The analysis of keywords suggested that there are many topics on electronic waste and that each country has presented a different focus of research. Overall, the bibliometric analysis proved to be an efficient tool with which to monitor historical and current research trends and to evaluate the sheer volume of currently existing scientific literature on e-waste topics.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric indicator; Bibliometric mapping; E-waste; International waste management; VOSviewer; WEEE
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05089-y
  3. Nat Hum Behav. 2019 Apr 15.
      The analysis of citations to scientific publications has become a tool that is used in the evaluation of a researcher's work; especially in the face of an ever-increasing production volume1-6. Despite the acknowledged shortcomings of citation analysis and the ongoing debate on the meaning of citations7,8, citations are still primarily viewed as endorsements and as indicators of the influence of the cited reference, regardless of the context of the citation. However, only recently has attention9,10 been given to the connection between contextual information and the success of citing and cited papers, primarily because of the lack of extensive databases that cover both types of metadata. Here we address this issue by studying the usage of citations throughout the full text of 156,558 articles published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), and by tracing their bibliometric history from among 60 million records obtained from the Web of Science. We find universal patterns of variation in the usage of citations across paper sections11. Notably, we find differences in microlevel citation patterns that were dependent on the ultimate impact of the citing paper itself; publications from high-impact groups tend to cite younger references, as well as more very young and better-cited references. Our study provides a quantitative approach to addressing the long-standing issue that not all citations count the same.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0585-7
  4. Am J Epidemiol. 2019 Apr 17. pii: kwz094. [Epub ahead of print]
      Women comprise about half of senior epidemiologists, but little is known about whether they are also viewed as leaders (i.e., authorities) in the field. We believe editorial roles are markers of leadership in a field. Our objective was to describe the distribution of gender across authorship of editorials published in five high-impact epidemiology journals over the past eight years. We included editorials and commentaries published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, European Journal of Epidemiology, Epidemiology, International Journal of Epidemiology, and Journal of Clinical Epidemiology between 2010 and 2017. We classified the gender of all authors as woman, man, or unknown and computed the proportions of women editorial authors over all journals and by position (e.g., first author). Only 31% (682/2,228) of all editorial authors and 36% (524/1,477) of unique editorial authors (i.e., counting each editorial author name only once) were women. We identified 1,180 editorials; 594 had sole authors, 24% (141/594) of whom were women, and 586 had two or more authors, 31% (184/586) of which had women as first authors. If women are underrepresented as editorial authors across epidemiology journals (e.g., as a marker of epidemiology leadership), the situation merits immediate correction.
    Keywords:  Authority; Editorial authorship; Equality; Gender; Leadership
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwz094
  5. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2018 Nov;18(4): e501-e506
       Objectives: This study aimed to examine the rate and factors associated with the publication of abstracts presented by residents at Oman Medical Specialty Board (OMSB) scientific meetings.
    Methods: This retrospective study was performed in February 2018. Two previous national OMSB scientific meetings at which resident abstracts were presented were identified, having taken place in January 2014 and December 2016, respectively. Independent searches of the MEDLINE® (National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, USA) and Google Scholar (Google LLC, Menlo Park, California, USA) databases were conducted to determine subsequent publication of the abstracts.
    Results: A total of 68 resident abstracts were presented, of which most were clinical research (92.6%). Residents comprised 36.4% of the authors, of which 73.1% were senior residents. In 64 abstracts (94.1%), a resident was the first author. Overall, 15 abstracts (22.1%) resulted in articles published in 11 journals. Of these, 12 (80%) represented clinical research and 10 articles (66.7%) were published in MEDLINE®-indexed journals. Residents were the first authors of eight articles (53.3%). The median time to publication was 19 months. The presence of two or more resident authors per abstract was significantly associated with publication (odds ratio = 5.50, 95% confidence interval = 1.15-26.36; P = 0.03).
    Conclusion: The publication rate of resident abstracts presented at two OMSB research meetings was low; however, a higher number of resident authors per abstract significantly increased the likelihood of publication. These findings may influence policymakers to implement measures to support inter-resident collaboration so as to increase research productivity.
    Keywords:  Biomedical Research; Graduate Medical Education; Internship and Residency; Meeting Abstracts; Oman; Publications
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.18295/squmj.2018.18.04.012
  6. F1000Res. 2019 ;8 266
      Background: Over the past few decades, there has been an increase in the number of open access (OA) journals in almost all disciplines. This increase in OA journals was accompanied an increase in funding to support such movements. Medical fields are among the highest funded fields, which further promoted its journals to move toward OA publishing. Here, we aim to compare OA and non-OA journals in terms of citation metrics and other indices. Methods: We collected data on the included journals from Scopus Source List on 1 st November 2018.  We filtered the list for medical journals only. For each journal, we extracted data regarding citation metrics, scholarly output, and wither the journal is OA or non-OA. Results: On the 2017 Scopus list of journals, there was 5835 medical journals. Upon analyzing the difference between medical OA and non-OA journals, we found that OA journals had a significantly higher CiteScore (p< 0.001), percent cited (p< 0.001), and source normalized impact per paper (SNIP) (p< 0.001), whereas non-OA journals had higher scholarly output (p< 0.001). Among the five largest journal publishers, Springer Nature published the highest frequency of OA articles (31.5%), while Wiley-Blackwell had the lowest frequency among its medical journals (4.4%). Conclusion: Among medical journals, although non-OA journals still have higher output in terms of articles per year, OA journals have higher citation metrics.
    Keywords:  Bibliometrics; Citation; Journal; Medicine; Open access
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.17979.1
  7. Zhonghua Yu Fang Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2019 Apr 06. 53(4): 433-436
      We analyzed the project results of preventive medicine from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) finished in 2017 based on the project-ending reports and data on science fund sharing service network. A total of 406 projects in this field were completed in 2017. A total of 3 122 published articles supported by these projects, including 1 789 articles in science citation index (SCI) journals and 525 articles in Chinese core journals. In addition, there were 224 patent application/software copyright and 589 trained postgraduates. The top three sub-disciplines of project were non-communicable disease epidemiology, human nutrition and hygienic toxicology, accounting for 45.32% of the total number of completed projects. There were 12 institutions which had more than 10 finished projects, accounting for 41.87%. During the recent 5 years, the number of SCI articles and patents/software copyrights per project showed a general uptrend. It should be noted that the number of articles in Chinese core journals and postgraduates decreased in recent two years. Our analyses demonstrated that the project results should be guided by the new era policy of science fund to promote sustainable development of scientific research.
    Keywords:  National Natural Science Foundation of China; Preventive medicine; Programs
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3760/cma.j.issn.0253-9624.2019.04.021
  8. Integr Zool. 2019 Apr 14.
      The use of the 'integrative approach' to classification of organisms since its formal establishing in 2005 has became a recurrent theme of zoosystematics. A bibliometric survey of the publications on integrative taxonomy of animals, which is aimed at exploring the most popular areas of research and characterizing the practical systematists' attitudes to this new approach, is presented. An analysis of 582 papers, appeared between 2005 and 2017 in journals indexed by Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection, has illustrated the gradual growth of popularity of the integrative taxonomy as well as some biases in representation of higher taxa in 'integrated' studies. It has been shown that the 'integrative' papers have more chances to appear in a top-ranking journal and gain relatively more citations as compared with non-integrative ones. The obtained results are discussed in a context of the 'taxonomic impediment' problem thought to be a consequence of the institutional crisis of traditional taxonomy, which is vividly debated during last decades. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
    Keywords:  animal systematics; bibliometric analysis; biodiversity crisis; integrative taxonomy; taxonomic impediment
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12393
  9. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Apr 02. pii: E1183. [Epub ahead of print]16(7):
      Background: Incidents of violence against medical staff have increased in intensity, showing the deteriorating relationship between doctors and patients in China over the past few years. In addition, professional-patient relations have been significantly affected in the Internet era in China, which has attracted great attention from many scholars. This study aims to analyze the research status of professional-patient relations in the Internet era in China and further reveal its research pattern and trends. Methods: This study collected journal articles published during the past 21 years from the Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform. Then, bibliometric analysis was carried out, including publication growth, core author and collaborative degree, highly cited papers, journal distribution, and institution distribution analyses. We also analyzed the subject heading-source literature matrix and co-occurrence matrix of keywords through hierarchical cluster, social network, and strategic diagram analyses. Results: The number of articles has continually risen since 1998, which follows the growth law of literature. Furthermore, the distribution of these studies obeys Bradford's law of scattering, and mainly concentrates on the fields of medicine and health technology. The distribution of high-frequency keywords follows Zipf's law. Conclusions: We identified eight focal research directions, namely: website building (especially for professional-patient interaction), telemedicine, professional-patient communication and network public opinion, professional-patient contradiction and health education, new media, follow-up interaction platform, healthcare reform and computer network, and medical ethics.
    Keywords:  Bibliometrics; Cluster analysis; Internet; Professional–Patient Relations; Social networking
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16071183
  10. Cad Saude Publica. 2019 Apr 08. pii: S0102-311X2019000305006. [Epub ahead of print]35(3): e00220217
      The association between Zika and microcephaly drew international attention to Brazil. The emergency situation demanded speed and collective effort by researchers worldwide, and Science was quick to investigate the disease and publish the results. Scientific knowledge was created and disseminated through collaboration in this process. Publications are still the best way of disseminating scientific knowledge. They allow to record progress in a field of studies and observe how scientists collaborate to produce advances as new knowledge and technologies are generated. An effective way to map such advances is to analyze scientists' Social Networks (relationship and collaboration networks), since collaboration is currently an intrinsic characteristic of modern science. Co-authorship of publications is thus an important indicator of scientific collaboration for understanding progress in various areas of Science. The current study aimed to use a generalizable method for mapping and analyzing the Scientific Social Network formed in the domain of Zika, demonstrating how scientists collaborated to produce the main research results, identifying the leading research groups on Zika and the most influential researchers. Social Network Analysis was applied to the co-authorship networks formed from 2015 to 2016. The study showed that a Zika researcher's influence is basically determined by three factors: (a) number of publications; (b) diversified partnerships; and (c) the links established with the research area's pioneers.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-311X00220217
  11. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2019 Apr 17. 101(8): e32
       BACKGROUND: Among medical specialties, orthopaedic surgery persistently has one of the lowest representations of women in residency programs. This study examined whether differences exist in the academic metrics of the orthopaedic residency applicants and enrolled candidates by sex, which may be contributing to the persistent underrepresentation of women. Differences in enrollment rate in orthopaedic residency programs also were analyzed. We hypothesized that academic metrics were similar for female and male applicants and thus do not explain the underrepresentation of women in training programs.
    METHODS: Academic data of first-time applicants (n = 9,133) and candidates who enrolled in an orthopaedic residency (n = 6,381) in the U.S. from 2005 to 2014 were reviewed. The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step-1 and Step-2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) scores, Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA) Honor Medical Society status, number of publications, and volunteer experiences were compared by sex and were analyzed over time.
    RESULTS: From 2005 to 2014, representation of female applicants increased from 12.6% to 16.0%, corresponding with an increase in the percentage of enrolled female residents (from 12.9% to 16.1%); 70.3% of male and 67.1% of female applicants to orthopaedic residency enrolled as residents (p = 0.082). Mean academic metrics increased significantly over time for applicants and enrolled candidates, irrespective of sex. Comparing by sex, the mean USMLE Step-1 scores of male applicants and enrolled candidates were approximately 2% higher than those of female applicants (p < 0.0001). Volunteer experiences of female applicants and enrolled candidates were 12% higher compared with male applicants (p < 0.0001). There was no significant difference in USMLE Step-2 CK scores, number of publications, or AΩA status by sex.
    CONCLUSIONS: The enrollment rate of male and female applicants in orthopaedic residencies was similar and did not change during the 10-year study period. The academic metrics of applicants and enrolled candidates have increased significantly. The academic metrics were found to be comparable by sex; the differences in USMLE Step-1 scores and volunteer experiences were small relative to the magnitude of accomplishments that these values represent. The growth rate of the proportion of women in orthopaedic residencies lags other surgical subspecialties but appears to be independent of academic metrics.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.17.01372
  12. Sci Data. 2019 Apr 18. 6(1): 33
      A central question in the science of science concerns how to develop a quantitative understanding of the evolution and impact of individual careers. Over the course of history, a relatively small fraction of individuals have made disproportionate, profound, and lasting impacts on science and society. Despite a long-standing interest in the careers of scientific elites across diverse disciplines, it remains difficult to collect large-scale career histories that could serve as training sets for systematic empirical and theoretical studies. Here, by combining unstructured data collected from CVs, university websites, and Wikipedia, together with the publication and citation database from Microsoft Academic Graph (MAG), we reconstructed publication histories of nearly all Nobel prize winners from the past century, through both manual curation and algorithmic disambiguation procedures. Data validation shows that the collected dataset presents among the most comprehensive collection of publication records for Nobel laureates currently available. As our quantitative understanding of science deepens, this dataset is expected to have increasing value. It will not only allow us to quantitatively probe novel patterns of productivity, collaboration, and impact governing successful scientific careers, it may also help us unearth the fundamental principles underlying creativity and the genesis of scientific breakthroughs.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0033-6
  13. J Hosp Med. 2019 Apr 08. 14 E1-E5
       BACKGROUND: Academic faculty who devote most of their time to clinical work often struggle to engage in meaningful scholarly work. They may be disadvantaged by limited research training and limited time. Simply providing senior mentors and biostatistical support has limited effectiveness.
    OBJECTIVE: We aimed to increase productivity in scholarly work of hospitalists and internal medicine physicians by integrating an Academic Research Coach into a robust faculty development program.
    DESIGN: This was a pre-post quality improvement evaluation.
    SETTING: This was conducted at the University of Washington in faculty across three academic-affiliated hospitals and 10 academic-affiliated clinics.
    PARTICIPANTS: Participants were hospitalists and internists on faculty in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Washington.
    INTERVENTION: The coach was a 0.50 full time equivalent health services researcher with strong research methods, project implementation, and interpersonal skills. The coach consulted on research, quality improvement, and other scholarship.
    MEASUREMENTS: We assessed the number of faculty supported, types of services provided, and numbers of grants, papers, and abstracts submitted and accepted.
    RESULTS: The coach consulted with 49 general internal medicine faculty including 30 hospitalists who conducted 63 projects. The coach supported 13 publications, 11 abstracts, four grant submissions, and seven manuscript reviews. Forty-eight faculty in other departments benefited as co-authors.
    CONCLUSION: Employing a dedicated health services researcher as part of a faculty development program is an effective way to engage clinically oriented faculty in meaningful scholarship. Key aspects of the program included an accessible and knowledgeable coach and an ongoing marketing strategy.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.12788/jhm.3194
  14. Adv Physiol Educ. 2019 Jun 01. 43(2): 199-206
      Here we described two activities related to Women in Science: one main conference and one symposium, both developed during the Annual Congress of the Brazilian Physiological Society, which were held within the XXXIII Annual Meeting of the Federation of Brazilian Experimental Biology Societies, from September 3-6, 2018, in Campos do Jordão (SP/Brazil). This conference and the symposium were among the most popular activities of the congress. This is important because the activities addressed important issues, including the fact that only 29% of the worlds' researchers are women, and women have difficulty progressing in a scientific career. Our report discusses why and which strategies could change this reality. We believe this symposium has not only contributed to advance and bring insights to physiological sciences, but, more importantly, it inspired and motivated physiologists to think about gender balance and the contribution and participation of women in physiological science.
    Keywords:  gender gap; physiology; science; women
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00216.2018