bims-evares Biomed News
on Evaluation of research
Issue of 2020–02–02
seventeen papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society



  1. Wien Med Wochenschr. 2020 Jan 29.
      The science-based Viennese School of Medicine arose from the collaboration between pathological anatomy and clinical medicine. The recognition of the clinical-pathological correlation enabled the Bohemian pathological anatomist Carl Rokitansky to describe the course of a disease and make a diagnosis. Rokitansky's systematic classification and explanation of diseases, documented in the Manual of Pathological Anatomy, was published in several languages and thus led to medical specialisation in Vienna and beyond the borders of Austria. It also contributed to the Medical Faculty of the University of Vienna becoming an interdisciplinary centre of expertise that attracted students from all over the world. Rokitansky's methodology was influenced by his early studies of the humanities in Prague. This article describes the impact of Rokitansky's handbook using new sources from the Rokitansky family archive, focusing in particular on its international reception and the relationships that were formed as a result. The model of Viennese Medicine was transferred to universities abroad and implemented in new medical schools in Japan, Iran, Mexico, Greece and the USA that developed it further. Rokitansky's international network contributed greatly to this transfer of knowledge as shown by newly-discovered source material from the Rokitansky family archive.
    Keywords:  Autopsy; Diagnosis; Liberalism; Transfer of knowledge; Viennese School of Medicine
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10354-019-00725-1
  2. J Neurosurg. 2020 Jan 31. pii: 2019.11.JNS192679. [Epub ahead of print] 1-8
       OBJECTIVE: Publication metrics such as the Hirsch index (h-index) are often used to evaluate and compare research productivity in academia. The h-index is not a field-normalized statistic and can therefore be dependent on overall rates of publication and citation within specific fields. Thus, a metric that adjusts for this while measuring individual contributions would be preferable. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has developed a new, field-normalized, article-level metric called the "relative citation ratio" (RCR) that can be used to more accurately compare author productivity between fields. The mean RCR is calculated as the total number of citations per year of a publication divided by the average field-specific citations per year, whereas the weighted RCR is the sum of all article-level RCR scores over an author's career. The present study was performed to determine how various factors, such as academic rank, career duration, a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree, and sex, impact the RCR to analyze research productivity among academic neurosurgeons.
    METHODS: A retrospective data analysis was performed using the iCite database. All physician faculty affiliated with Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited neurological surgery programs were eligible for analysis. Sex, career duration, academic rank, additional degrees, total publications, mean RCR, and weighted RCR were collected for each individual. Mean RCR and weighted RCR were compared between variables to assess patterns of analysis by using SAS software version 9.4.
    RESULTS: A total of 1687 neurosurgery faculty members from 125 institutions were included in the analysis. Advanced academic rank, longer career duration, and PhD acquisition were all associated with increased mean and weighted RCRs. Male sex was associated with having an increased weighted RCR but not an increased mean RCR score. Overall, neurological surgeons were highly productive, with a median RCR of 1.37 (IQR 0.93-1.97) and a median weighted RCR of 28.56 (IQR 7.99-85.65).
    CONCLUSIONS: The RCR and its derivatives are new metrics that help fill in the gaps of other indices for research output. Here, the authors found that advanced academic rank, longer career duration, and PhD acquisition were all associated with increased mean and weighted RCRs. Male sex was associated with having an increased weighted, but not mean, RCR score, most likely because of historically unequal opportunities for women within the field. Furthermore, the data showed that current academic neurosurgeons are exceptionally productive compared to both physicians in other specialties and the general scientific community.
    Keywords:  AANS = American Association of Neurological Surgeons; NIH = National Institutes of Health; National Institutes of Health; PhD = Doctor of Philosophy; RCR = relative citation ratio; citations; h-index = Hirsch index; neurological surgery; relative citation ratio; research productivity
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3171/2019.11.JNS192679
  3. Indian J Psychiatry. 2020 Jan-Feb;62(1):62(1): 73-79
       Background: Every year the scientific sessions of Annual National Conference of Indian Psychiatric Society (ANCIPS) are marked by presentation of free papers, posters, and award paper sessions, which are usually meant for presentation of new research which is not yet published. Hence, it is expected that these papers will be published in near future so that the scientific literature is distributed and shared with wider audience.
    Aim: This paper aims to evaluate the abstract to publication rate of papers presented during ANCIPS in the years 2012-2014.
    Materials and Methods: For this study, all the free papers, posters, and award papers presented during the ANCIPS of 2012-2014 were listed, and electronic searches were carried out to search for published articles. In addition, one of the authors of papers not found in the electronic searches were contacted through E-mail.
    Results: A total of 1081 papers were presented during the ANCIPS in the 3 year period under study. Of these, 64 were award papers, 622 were free papers, and 395 were posters. Majority (n = 807; 74.6%) of these could be categorized as research data-based presentations; this was followed by case reports/series (203; 18.8%), review of literature (n = 35; 3.3%), and others (n = 36; 3.3%). Overall, only 27% of the papers were published after at least 5 years of the presentation. Of all the award papers, 69.6% of papers were published, whereas only 26.8% of free oral papers and 22.5% of free posters were published. About half (45.6%) of the papers were published in national journals. In terms of indexing, among those which were published, 62.8% were published in Medline-indexed (PubMed-listed) Journals with a mean impact factor of 1.
    Conclusion: The present study shows that only 27% of the abstracts presented during the ANCIPS are ultimately published as full text articles in the next 5 years.
    Keywords:  Abstracts; conference; publication; publication rate
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_320_19
  4. Eur J Epidemiol. 2020 Jan 28.
      To review the highest impact studies published from the UK Biobank and assess their contributions to "precision medicine." We reviewed 140 of 689 studies published between 2008 and May 2019 from the UK Biobank deemed to be high impact by citations, alternative metric data, or publication in a high impact journal. We classified studies according to whether they (1) were largely methods papers, (2) largely replicated prior findings or associations, (3) generated novel findings or associations, (4) developed risk prediction models that did not yield clinically significant improvements in risk estimation over prior models or (5) developed models that produced significant improvements in individualized risk assessment, targeted screening, or targeted treatment. This final category represents "precision medicine." We classified 15 articles as category 1, 33 as category 2, 85 as category 3, six as category 4, and one as category 5. In this assessment of the first 7 years of the UK Biobank and first 4 years of genetic data availability, the majority of high impact UK Biobank studies either replicated known associations or generated novel associations without clinically relevant improvements in risk prediction, screening, or treatment. This information may be useful for designers of other cohort studies in terms of input to design and follow-up to facilitate precision medicine research.
    Keywords:  Genetic Medicine; Personalized Medicine; Precision medicine; UK biobank
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-020-00606-7
  5. Health Info Libr J. 2020 Jan 29.
       BACKGROUND: The application of bibliometrics in medicine enables one to analyse vast amounts of publications and their production patterns on macroscopic and microscopic levels.
    OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to analyse the historical perspective of research literature production regarding application of bibliometrics in medicine.
    METHODS: Publications related to application of bibliometrics in medicine from 1970 to 2018 were harvested from the Scopus bibliographic database. Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy was triangulated with the VOSViewer to identify historical roots and evolution of topics and clinical areas.
    RESULTS: The search resulted in 6557 publications. The literature production trend was positive. Historical roots analysis identified 33 historical roots and 16 clinical areas where bibliometrics was applied.
    DISCUSSION: The increase in productivity in application of bibliometrics in medicine might be attributed to increased use of quantitative metrics in research evaluation, publish or perish phenomenon and the increased use of evidence-based medicine.
    CONCLUSION: The trend of the literature production was positive. Medicine was in the forefront of knowledge development in bibliometrics. reference publication year spectroscopy proved to be an accurate method which was able to identify most of the historical roots.
    Keywords:  bibliometrics; citation analysis; evidence-based medicine (EBM); research, biomedical
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12295
  6. Chin Med. 2020 ;15 7
      Berberine has significant antibacterial and antipyretic effects and is a commonly used drug for treating infectious diarrhoea. The current research data show that the pharmacological effects of berberine are numerous and complex, and researchers have been enthusiastic about this field. To allow researchers to quickly understand the field and to provide references for the direction of research, using bibliometrics, we analysed 1426 articles, dating from 1985 to 2018, in the field of berberine pharmacology. The research articles we found came from 69 countries/regions, 1381 institutions, 5675 authors, and 325 journals; they contained 3794 key words; they were written in 7 languages; and they were of 2 article types. This study summarizes and discusses the evolution of the historical themes of berberine pharmacology as well as the status quo and the future development directions from a holistic perspective.
    Keywords:  Berberine; Bibliometrics; CiteSpace; Evolutionary trend; Pharmacology; Web of Science
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13020-020-0288-z
  7. Emerg Med J. 2020 Jan 28. pii: emermed-2019-208865. [Epub ahead of print]
       BACKGROUND: Although women make up a substantial portion of the workforce in emergency medicine, they remain under-represented in academia.
    METHODS: This study investigates trends in the representation of female speakers at the American College of Emergency Physicians scientific assembly-the largest academic emergency medicine conference in the world. Publication profiles, speaking duration and gender composition of speakers were collected and compared over a 3-year period.
    RESULTS: The authors described increased representation of female speakers at the conference from 2016 to 2018, as well as an upward trend in women's actual speaking time.
    CONCLUSION: This upward trend in women's representation may translate to more opportunities for female engagement in academic emergency medicine. Despite the increasing representation of women, male speakers outnumbered female speakers all 3 years, demonstrating that a speaker gender gap persists in academic emergency medicine.
    Keywords:  education; emergency department; research, epidemiology
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2019-208865
  8. Andrologia. 2020 Jan 27. e13520
      Erectile dysfunction (ED) is portrayed as lasting deficiency to achieve or sustain penile erection in successful vaginal penetration and is a major problem affecting the quality of life in men. The number of ED sufferers worldwide is anticipated to reach 322 million, by 2025. In recent years, many publications and studies have been made in the field of ED. Our aim was to perform a detailed bibliometric analysis of erectile dysfunction literature. In this study, we downloaded the data of the publications from the Web of Science Core Collection. All items indexed in these databases between 1975 and 2018 were included. Documents produced in 2019 were excluded. We searched in WoS databases for the keywords of 'erectile dysfunction' and 'impotence'. Our basic search into WoS databases retrieved a total of 28,266 documents indexed between 1975 and 2018. English dominated impotence literature (92.541%) followed by German, French and Korean (2.136%, 1.920% and 1.180% respectively). The United States has made tremendous improvement in ED studies and is still the effective country. The most prolific author was Montorsi F with 330 articles from Italy, and three-fifth of the authors were from the USA.
    Keywords:  andrology; bibliometric analysis; citation rate; erectile dysfunction; impotence
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/and.13520
  9. Health Informatics J. 2020 Jan 29. 1460458220901360
      As "mukbang" (eating broadcast) becomes increasingly widespread, there is growing interest about the impact of mukbang on public health. This study aimed to analyze the content of mukbang YouTube videos, as well as news articles related to mukbang and the association between watching mukbang videos and health habits. We analyzed 5952 YouTube mukbang videos, 5265 news articles, and a survey of 1200 people in Korea. In this study, we confirmed that the provocative content of mukbang YouTube videos, such as overeating, was related to video popularity (p < 0.001). In addition, more exposure to mukbang was associated with greater effects on dietary health due to mukbang (p < 0.001). The prevalence of news articles on the negative effects of mukbang showed an increasing trend over time, while the articles on "Mukbang is funny" were most common in all the years evaluated. To cope with public health problems such as obesity, it will be necessary to continue to investigate the content and effects of mukbang on public health.
    Keywords:  YouTube; content analysis; eating broadcast; mukbang; news analysis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458220901360
  10. Sci Total Environ. 2020 Jan 17. pii: S0048-9697(20)30286-2. [Epub ahead of print]714 136776
      Floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) have attained tremendous popularity for water purification purposes. Through this phyto-technology, naturally occurring macrophytes are allowed to grow on the water surface on a buoyant raft or a rigid support, keeping the plant roots permanently in contact with the water and removing pollutants via several processes. The objective of this study was to review studies that have developed FTWs and to perform a bibliometric analysis using three keywords: "Floating", "Treatment" and "Wetlands". From bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer software and the Web of Science database, it was possible to verify the number of publications over the years and the countries and authors with the most published articles on these systems and other related terms. Subsequently, a review was performed on the main mechanisms of pollutant removal by FTWs as well as experiences and recommendations for major design and operating aspects for their application, such as water depth, hydraulic retention time (HRT), floating mat, water surface coverage, artificial aeration, plant selection and pruning or harvesting. It was verified that FTWs are a potential technology for treating several wastewater types and water remediation under different conditions. Even with the increasing number of publications in recent years, many design and operation aspects related to system performance still demand more research in order to better understand the relations between macrophytes and other pollutant removal mechanisms and to thereby improve the treatment efficiency of FTW systems.
    Keywords:  Bioremediation; Eutrophication; Floating islands; Macrophytes; Phytoremediation; Wastewater treatment
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136776
  11. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 Jan;99(5): e18971
       BACKGROUND: We analyzed the scientific outputs of global atrial fibrillation (AF) researches, developed a model to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the AF research productions from 2004 to 2018.
    METHODS: The data was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) on June 15, 2019. Bibliometrics tools-CiteSpace V (Drexel university, Chaomei Chen) and VOSviewer (Leiden University, van Eck NJ) --were used for bibliometric analyzing published outputs and finding research hotspots.
    RESULTS: There were a total of 21,839 research articles on AF, and the annual publication rate increased over time from 2004 to 2018. The Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology published the greatest number of articles, and the leading country was the United States. The leading institution was the Mayo Clinic, and the most productive researchers were: LIP GYH, Natale A, Chen SA, DI Biase L, and Kuck KH. The keywords analysis showed that catheter ablation, risk, heart failure, stroke, and management were research hotspots.
    CONCLUSION: Bibliometric analysis of the literature shows that research on AF continues to be a hot spot, and the clinical treatment of AF is an important research frontier. However, further research and collaboration are needed worldwide. Our findings aim to provide valuable information for the editors of journals that publish research on arrhythmia, and to help researchers identify new perspectives for future researches.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000018971
  12. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2020 Jan 01. pii: 88892. [Epub ahead of print]21(1): 13-18
       OBJECTIVE: Oral cancer and precancers are a major public health challenge in developing countries. Researchers in Saudi Arabia have constantly been directing their efforts on oral cancer research and have their results published. Systematic analysis of such papers is the need of the hour as it will not only acknowledge the current status but will also help in framing future policies on oral cancer research in Saudi Arabia.
    METHOD: The search string "oral cancer" OR "Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma" OR "oral premalignant lesion" OR "oral precancer" OR "Oral Potentially malignant disorder" AND AFFIL (Saudi AND Arabia ) was used for retrieval of articles from Scopus database. Various tools available in Scopus database were used for analyzing the bibliometric related parameters.
    RESULTS: The search revealed a total of 663 publications based on the above query. Maximum affiliations were from King Saud University (163) followed by Jazan University (109) and then King Abdulaziz University (106). A large number of international collaborations were observed, the maximum with India (176) and the USA (127). The maximum number of articles were published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention (34) followed by the Journal of Contemporary Dental Practice (33) and Journal of Oral Pathology and Medicine (19).
    CONCLUSION: Saudi researchers are directing their efforts towards the public health menace of oral cancer. However, it was also observed that some institutions have emerged as front runners in research, whereas others are contributing significantly less. The health department should encourage and take necessary steps to increase the involvement of other institutions.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric analysis; Saudi Arabia; Scopus; oral cancer; oral precancer
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.31557/APJCP.2020.21.1.13
  13. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2020 Feb 15. 45(4): 275-283
       STUDY DESIGN: A bibliometric analysis.
    OBJECTIVE: To identify and analyze the 100 top-cited articles on spinal deformity.
    SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The nature of spinal deformity leads to the complexity of its treatment. There is a scarcity of guidelines for the treatment of spinal deformity despite of the growing literature. So it is crucial to discern researches with higher impact and quality.
    METHODS: A keyword search using the Thomson Reuters Web of Science was conducted to select articles relevant to spinal deformity. The 100 top-cited articles were identified based on titles and abstracts, and then analyzed.
    RESULTS: The citation count for the final 100 articles ranged from 154 to 775, with an average of 243.0 citations. Most studies were published in the journal Spine (49/100). The most productive publication time was from 2000 to 2009. The natural history of scoliosis was the most frequent topic (10 articles), followed by pedicle screw instrumentation (8), outcome of nonoperative treatment for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) (8), health-related quality of life (7), relationship between sagittal parameters and clinical symptoms (7), and complications of surgical treatment (7). Despite AIS was the most common deformity, the top two most frequently cited articles were all about adult spinal deformity, both describing the correlation between sagittal parameters and symptoms.
    CONCLUSION: The current study attempted to develop a resource with detailed information on 100 top-cited articles on spinal deformity. It demonstrated the essential advances in spinal deformity. Although the most common spinal deformity is AIS, the adult spinal deformity is of greater impact. These insights into priorities and trends of the researches could help future academic pursuits.
    LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 5.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/BRS.0000000000003247
  14. Braz J Otorhinolaryngol. 2020 Jan 14. pii: S1808-8694(20)30002-1. [Epub ahead of print]
       INTRODUCTION: As scientific knowledge has grown in biomedicine, it has also become necessary to develop tools to manage and understand the body of evidence. In that sense, bibliometrics has become a consolidated discipline for analyzing scientific activity, enabling the characterization of a particular field or area of knowledge by means of the quantification of the bibliographic characteristics of scientific publications.
    OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the most frequently cited articles in the field of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea and otorrhea.
    METHODS: The searches took place on the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science platform, which includes the MEDLINE database. The study period was limited to 1945-2018.
    RESULTS: The 101 most cited articles in the field of cerebrospinal fluid leak were published in 36 journals, and the most important specialties contributing to the literature were neurosurgery and otorhinolaryngology. Of the 101 top-cited articles, 70% were published from 1990 to 2018, with two distinct periods of high scientific productivity: 1990-1999 and 2000-2009. In the first period, the main topic of research interest was endoscopic sinus surgery for cerebrospinal fluid fistulas, whereas from 2000 to 2009, documents focused more on surgical aspects of extended skull base approaches. The articles received 73-767 citations. The top article over the whole study period was "A novel reconstructive technique after endoscopic expanded endonasal approaches: vascular pedicle nasoseptal flap" by Hadad et al., which was published 2006 in Laryngoscope. Its publication represented an inflection point in the literature on cerebrospinal fluid leak and endoscopic skull base surgery, and it gave rise to numerous other research publications.
    CONCLUSION: Different surgical innovations in the field of cerebrospinal fluid leak sparked two different periods of intense scientific activity. Otorhinolaryngology and neurosurgery were the dominant specialties. The most frequent topic studied was endoscopic surgery; others included clinical and diagnostic features, neurinoma surgery, and cerebrospinal fluid leak related to temporal bone fractures.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric, publications; Bibliométricas, publicações; Cerebrospinal fluid leak; Cerebrospinal fluid otorrhea; Cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea; Fístula liquórica; Otorreia do líquido cefalorraquidiano; Rinorreia do líquido cefalorraquidiano
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjorl.2019.12.002
  15. Int J Surg. 2020 Jan 25. pii: S1743-9191(20)30138-2. [Epub ahead of print]
       BACKGROUND: Bladder cancer is one of the top 10 frequently occurring neoplasms worldwide and is responsible for over 150,000 deaths per annum. Bibliometric analysis helps further our knowledge of bladder cancer research, topics and trends. It is useful to identify the most influential articles and its impact pertinent to this field that has helped mould our understanding and management of bladder cancer.
    MATERIALS AND METHODS: Search terms related to bladder cancer were compiled and used to interrogate the Thompson Reuters Web of Science indexing database. The 100 most cited manuscripts in the English language were identified and further evaluated by theme, manuscript type, journal, year of publication, author and institution.
    RESULTS: The Web of Science search returned a total of 47,381 manuscripts. The median number of citations among the top 100 was 515, ranging from 2257 to 352. The greatest number of manuscripts in the top 100 were published in the Journal of Urology (n=15), followed by the Journal of Clinical Oncology (n=14) and European Urology (n=13). The most cited paper (Stein et al., Journal of Clinical Oncology 2001, 2257 citations) reported on the long term outcomes from a large cohort of patients that underwent radical cystectomy and bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy for transitional cell carcinoma. The most prevalent theme was the pathobiology of bladder cancer (n=37) followed by oncological treatment (n=17). The majority of manuscripts were of original research (n=79) mainly based on basic science study design and published from institutions in the USA.
    CONCLUSION: The pathobiology and oncological treatment of bladder cancer were the areas with most citations within the top 100. This bibliometric analysis has identified influential articles in the field on bladder cancer, which provides a useful guide to authors as to what type of article constitutes a highly citable publication in this subject.
    Keywords:  Bladder cancer; bibliometric analysis; citations
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsu.2020.01.128
  16. Mar Drugs. 2020 Jan 26. pii: E79. [Epub ahead of print]18(2):
      :A bibliographic database of scientific papers published by authors affiliated worldwide, especially focused in Europe and in the European Atlantic Area, and containing the keywords "microalga(e)" or "phytoplankton" was built. A corpus of 79,020 publications was obtained and analyzed using the Orbit Intellixir software to highlight the evolution of the research domain. Publication rates from 1960 to 2019, organization of the research, collaboration networks between countries and organizations, emerging and fading research concepts, major studied species, and associated concepts, as well as journals publishing microalgae research were considered. As a result, of the 79,020 papers published worldwide, 26,137 included authors from Europe (33% of world production) and 6989 from the European Atlantic Area (AA) (27% of European production, 9% of world production). The main worldwide scientific research topics found in this study were phytoplankton, community, bloom, diatoms, distribution, ecosystem, coastal, chlorophyll, zooplankton, photosynthesis, and primary production. At the European scale, the most studied topics were related to the environment, food, chemicals, pigments, protein, feed, and drugs. The highest scientific trends and market opportunities analysis identified bioplastics and biostimulants as top emerging concepts at the European level and agricultural, animal feed, and blue biotechnology at the European AA level.
    Keywords:  European Atlantic Area; bibliometrics; biotechnology; market; microalgae; phytoplankton; research
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/md18020079