bims-evares Biomed News
on Evaluation of research
Issue of 2020‒11‒22
thirty-two papers selected by
Thomas Krichel
Open Library Society


  1. Am J Transl Res. 2020 ;12(10): 6366-6380
      BACKGROUND: Acute lung injury (ALI) is a common disease that usually progresses to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with high morbidity and mortality. We aim to analyze the trends in ALI/ARDS, and to compare the differences in aspects of years, countries, institutions, journals, etc. Methods: We screened all relevant literature on ALI/ARDS from Web of Science during 2009-2019, and analyzed the research trends in this field by VOSviewer.RESULTS: We had screened 7,890 publications with a total cited frequency of 164,713. The United States contributed the largest number of publications (2,612, 33.11%), cited frequency (81,376, 48.61%), and the highest H-index (107). Journal of Critical Care Medicine published the largest number of literatures on ALI/ARDS, MATTHAY MA published the majority of articles in this field (147), while SLUTSKY AS received the most cited frequency (10015). University of California San Francisco had the largest number of publications (243, 3.08%) among all full-time institutions. In the aspect of clinical research in ALI/ARDS, the keyword "Berlin definition" emerged in recent years, with an average year of 2016.3; in the basic research, the key word "protects" appeared latest, and the average years were 2016.5. The current research trend indicates that basic research is gradually transforming into clinical research.
    CONCLUSIONS: The United States have made the most significant contribution to the ALI/ARDS field in the last decade. The current research 'hotspot' mainly appeared in clinical research, such as "Berlin definition". In regards to basic research, studies tend to explore the protective mechanisms against ALI/ARDS.
    Keywords:  ALI; ARDS; Bibliometrics; lung; publication
  2. Turk Neurosurg. 2020 Apr 01.
      AIM: Bibliometrics analyzes publication patterns with quantitative methods and is increasingly being employed in neurosurgery. In our study, we aimed to quantitatively analyze the contribution of different countries to neurosurgical journals, with emphasis on Turkey. Further, we discuss the factors affecting research productivity and strategies for improvement.MATERIAL AND METHODS: Neurosurgical journals were selected from the Journal Citation Reports database using given criteria. Data were collected from the Web of Science database to analyze the contribution rates of countries to neurosurgical journals in terms of publication numbers and average citations per item from September to December 2018. The article types, departmental contributions, and most cited articles were evaluated particularly for Turkey.
    RESULTS: Fourteen of 52 journals were chosen for analysis. There were 82,626 articles published from 2000 to 2018. The top three contributors included the USA with 28,939 (35%), Japan with 6,382 (7.7%), and Germany with 4,454 articles (5.3%). Turkey contributed 2,087 articles (2.5%) to neurosurgical journals, including 1003 (48%) original articles and 742 (36%) case reports, and ranked 10th in the world. Hacettepe University is the only organization in Turkey that ranked in the top 10 in all categories. Among the top-cited articles from Turkey, the majority were retrospective studies (39%), followed by laboratory studies (18%) and prospective studies (15%).
    CONCLUSION: This bibliometric assessment of neurosurgical journals allows countries to perceive their neurosurgical research productivity. It can function as a benchmark for academic productivity and the methodology can be a model for particular analysis of other countries.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.28716-19.2
  3. Healthcare (Basel). 2020 Nov 18. pii: E492. [Epub ahead of print]8(4):
      We compared the characteristics of the most cited, most downloaded, and most mentioned (the highest Altmetric Attention Score) articles published in general medical journals. We identified the 640 most frequently cited, 662 most frequently downloaded, and 652 most mentioned articles from 48 general medical journals. A comparison was made of the following characteristics of articles in the most cited, most downloaded, and most mentioned articles: medical specialty, publication type, country of origin, year of publication, and accessibility. There was only a 2.5% overlap in these three groups. Original articles were the more frequent among the most mentioned articles, whereas reviews, case reports, and guidelines/consensus statements were more frequent among the most downloaded articles. The most cited articles were more frequently published in 2010 and before, whereas the most downloaded articles were published in 2017-2018. The most mentioned articles were more frequently open-access articles, compared to the most downloaded articles. The most cited were more frequently older, the most downloaded were more frequently recent and educational, and the most mentioned were more frequently original and open-access articles. The results of our study may provide insights into various measures of article impact.
    Keywords:  altmetrics; bibliometric analysis; citation; download; general medical journals
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8040492
  4. BMC Cancer. 2020 Nov 16. 20(1): 1109
      BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the entire field of folate receptor research. Folate receptor is expressed on a wide variety of cancers and certain immune cells.METHODS: A Web of Science search was performed on folate receptor or folate binding protein (1969-to June 28, 2019). The following information was examined: publications per year, overall citations, top 10 authors, top 10 institutions, top 10 cited articles, top 10 countries, co-author collaborations and key areas of research.
    RESULTS: In total, 3248 documents for folate receptor or folate binding protein were retrieved for the study years outlined in the methods section search query. The range was 1 per year in 1969 to 264 for the last full year studied (2018). A total of 123,720 citations for the 3248 documents retrieved represented a mean citation rate per article of 38.09 and range of 1667 citations (range 0 to 1667). Researchers in 71 countries authored publications analyzed in this study. The US was the leader in publications and had the highest ranking institution. The top 10 articles have been cited 7270 times during the time frame of this study. The top cited article had an average citation rate of 110 citations per year. Network maps revealed considerable co-authorship among several of the top 10 authors.
    CONCLUSION: Our study presents several important insights into the features and impact of folate receptor research. To our knowledge, this is the first bibliometric analysis of folate receptor.
    Keywords:  Bibliometrics; Cancer; Folate binding protein; Folate receptor; Imaging; Librarianship-health sciences; Macrophage; Oncology; Scientometrics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-020-07607-5
  5. Healthcare (Basel). 2020 Nov 12. pii: E478. [Epub ahead of print]8(4):
      Scientific production in the last decades has evidenced an increase in burnout syndrome in healthcare professionals. The objective of this bibliometric study was to analyze scientific productions on burnout in nurses in 2009-2019. A search was made on the Web of Science database on burnout in nursing. The variables evaluated were number of publications per year, productivity based on the journal and relationships between authors. Data were analyzed using Bibexcel software, and Pajek was used to visualize the co-authorship network map. A total of 1528 publications related to burnout in nurses were identified. The years with the most productivity were 2016 to 2017, when the publication rate increased noticeably over previous years. The Spanish journal with the most production on the subject was Atención Primaria. The co-authorship network analyzed illustrated collaboration patterns among the researchers. Scientific publications on the subject have increased in recent years due to problems in the healthcare system, which is in need of prevention and intervention programs for healthcare professionals.
    Keywords:  bibliometrics; burnout; co-authorship network; nursing
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8040478
  6. World Neurosurg. 2020 Nov 16. pii: S1878-8750(20)32413-X. [Epub ahead of print]
      BACKGROUND: This article is the first to identify the most influential papers on medulloblastoma using the citation analysis methodology.OBJECTIVE: To perform a bibliometric analysis of the 100 most cited articles on medulloblastoma.
    METHODS: Using the Web of Science (WoS) database, search criteria included the title-specific keyword "medulloblastoma" OR "cerebellar primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET)" OR "cerebellar PNET". Publications from 1900-2020 labelled "article", "review", "data set", or "clinical trial" were chosen and ranked based on total number of citations in descending order.
    OUTCOME MEASURES: Each article was evaluated based on the following variables: total citations, average citations per year (CY), first author, institution of first author, title, publication year, country of origin, SCImago Journal Rank, and Scopus SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper).
    RESULTS: Our search yielded 4,928 publications on medulloblastoma. The 100 most-cited publications ranged from 1925-2017 across 42 unique journals; The Journal of Clinical Oncology accounted for the most publications (16%). Paul A. Northcott first-authored the most papers on the list (n=7.7%), while the most widely cited paper was entitled "Altered neural cell fates and medulloblastoma in mouse patched mutants", authored by Goodrich et al. in Science (1997).
    CONCLUSION: As medulloblastoma represents the most common form of pediatric cancerous brain tumor, it is important to identify works that have significantly contributed to the body of knowledge regarding this disease. The 100 most-cited medulloblastoma articles comprise a significant collection of data regarding the histopathological and molecular classification of medulloblastoma as well as clinical outcomes of therapeutics used to treat this disease.
    Keywords:  Medulloblastoma; PNET; cerebellar primitive neuroectodermal tumor
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wneu.2020.11.038
  7. Khirurgiia (Mosk). 2020 ; 137-147
      The internationalized segment of manuscripts on surgery published in top-rated journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS CC) was analyzed. Presence of national publications in surgical journals of different quartiles was estimated. It was shown that 59.6% of surgical articles of Russian authors, indexed in the WoS CC, were published in high-ranking journals (Q1 and Q2). The number of such articles has been increased by more than 3 times (from 23 in 2010 to 86 in 2018) on the background of no growth in the fourth quartile. We formed a rating of national educational and academic organizations, which have made the greatest contribution to a portfolio of publications on surgery, indexed in Q1-Q2 quartiles of WoS CC, as well as in the segment of highly cited publications.
    Keywords:  Web of Science Core Collection; calculation algorithm; complex publication performance score; impact factor; internationalized publications; journals; quartiles; surgery
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.17116/hirurgia2020111137
  8. J Diabetes Res. 2020 ;2020 1514282
      Materials and Methods: Data was extracted from the Web of Science (WoS) platform and later bibliometric analysis performed using the "R-Bibliometrix" package. A wide range of indicators was explored to measure the quantity and quality of the publications related to diabetes from KSA.Results: Saudi Arabia was 28th in rank with 2600 documents (0.83% of global share). Articles were the main document type (76%). The total number of authors was 9715 from 104 countries. Three authors showed >50 publications and >100 total citations while 2 authors showed an H-index of ≥20. The USA, UK, and Egypt were other leading contributive countries in terms of corresponding authors and total citations per country. King Saud University was the major contributing affiliation followed by King Abdulaziz University. Among 865 sources, Saudi Medical Journal was the leading and consistent source over the years. Diabetes, Diabetes Mellitus, and Type 2 Diabetes were the most frequently used keywords.
    Conclusion: This study provides a macroscopic overview of diabetes-related research output from KSA. Overall, similar identifications and trends of top authors were observed in terms of productivity, impact, international collaborations, and organizational affiliations. Generally, an increasing productivity trend was observed with the majority published in the last 5 to 10 years. Study findings can benefit relevant stakeholders to better understand the trends and performance of diabetes-related regional research.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/1514282
  9. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 Nov 20. 99(47): e23115
      BACKGROUND: We aimed to identify the 100 most cited articles published on peritoneal dialysis (PD) and analyze their characteristics to provide information on the achievements and developments of PD research over the past decades.METHODS: The Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) in the Web of Science Core Collection was comprehensively searched from 2000 to 2018, using the keywords "Peritoneal dialysis" or "Dialyses, Peritoneal" or "Dialysis, Peritoneal" or "Peritoneal Dialyses". The top 100 cited articles were retrieved by reading titles and abstracts. Significant information was further elicited, including the authors, journals, countries, institutions, and publication year.
    RESULTS: The United States was the most productive country (n = 51), Li Pkt published the highest number of papers (n = 7), the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology produced the highest number of contributions (n = 28), and Baxter International Inc., the University of California System, and the University of Toronto were the institutions with the highest number of articles (n = 10).
    CONCLUSIONS: This is the first bibliometric study to identify the most influential papers in PD research. This report describes the major changes and advances in research regarding PD as a guide for writing a citable article.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000023115
  10. Front Physiol. 2020 ;11 558090
      Glucocerebrosides are sphingolipid components of cell membranes that intervene in numerous cell biological processes and signaling pathways and that deregulation is implicated in human diseases such as Gaucher disease and Parkinson's disease. In the present study, we conducted a systematic review using document co-citation analysis, clustering and visualization tools to explore the trends and knowledge structure of glucocerebrosides research as indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded database (1956-present). A co-citation network of 5,324 publications related to glucocerebrosides was constructed. The analysis of emerging categories and keywords suggested a growth of research related to neurosciences over the last decade. We identified ten major areas of research (e.g., clusters) that developed over time, from the oldest (i.e., on glucocerebrosidase protein or molecular analysis of the GBA gene) to the most recent ones (i.e., on drug resistance in cancer, pharmacological chaperones, or Parkinson's disease). We provided for each cluster the most cited publications and a description of their intellectual content. We moreover identified emerging trends in glucocerebrosides research by detecting the surges in the rate of publication citations in the most recent years. In conclusion, this study helps to apprehend the most significant lines of research on glucocerebrosides. This should strengthen the connections between scientific communities studying glycosphingolipids to facilitate advances, especially for the most recent researches on cancer drug resistance and Parkinson's disease.
    Keywords:  Parkinson Disease; cancer drug resistance; gangliosides; gaucher disease; glucocerebrosides; glucosylceramides; lipids; sphingolipids
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.558090
  11. Spine J. 2020 Nov 12. pii: S1529-9430(20)31216-X. [Epub ahead of print]
      BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Impact factor, citation rate, and other traditional measures of scholarly impact do not account for the role that social media has in the dissemination of research. The Altmetric Attention Score (AAS) quantifies the active online presence of individual articles on various platforms (e.g., Twitter, Facebook).PURPOSE: We sought to better understand the factors associated with greater online attention and AAS in seven spine journals.
    STUDY DESIGN/SETTING: Cross-sectional study.
    PATIENT SAMPLE: No patients were included in this study. We analyzed 380 articles in seven major spine journals.
    OUTCOME MEASURES: Extracted manuscript characteristics included AAS; number of Twitter, Facebook, and news outlet mentions; number of citations, references, academic institutions, and authors; and sample size, geographic region, subject of study, and level of evidence.
    METHODS: All original scientific manuscripts published in the official January, February, and March 2017 issues of Spine, The Spine Journal, Spine Deformity, Journal of Neurosurgery-Spine, Clinical Spine Surgery, Global Spine Journal, and European Spine Journal were identified. The correlation of AAS and number of citations was determined by Spearman's Rho (ρ) correlation coefficient. Manuscript factors associated with AAS were determined by a multivariable linear regression analysis.
    RESULTS: A total of 380 manuscripts were included in the analysis. The average AAS across all 7 journals was 4.9 (SD: 19.4; Range: 0 to 356), with the highest average AAS reported for The Spine Journal at 8.0 (SD: 13; Range: 0 to 60). There was a weak, positive correlation between AAS and number of citations (ρ = 0.32; p<0.05); this relationship was individually present for four out of the seven included journals. In addition, number of references was associated with higher average manuscript AAS (β: 0.16 [95% CI: 0.002 to 0.32]; p<0.05). No manuscript characteristics were associated with lower AAS.
    CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis of seven spine journals revealed a weak, positive correlation between AAS and number of citations. Number of references was associated with higher AAS. We believe these findings may be useful to authors seeking ways to maximize the impact of their research.
    Keywords:  AAS; Altmetric Attention Score; Altmetrics; Citations; Facebook; Impact Factor; Social Media; Spine; The Spine Journal; Twitter
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spinee.2020.11.001
  12. J Oncol. 2020 ;2020 4708394
      In recent years, many studies have focused on the host immune system and its relationship with tumor progression in a variety of solid tumors, including breast cancer. This study investigates recent trends of immunotherapy research in breast cancer and compares the contributions of research from different regions, institutions, and authors. A search of breast cancer and immunotherapy studies that were published between 2010 and 2019-with different keyword combinations-was performed in the Web of Science database. Bibliometric data were collected for analysis. VOSviewer software was used to generate a figure for the keyword's co-occurrence network, so as to implement network visualization analysis. A total of 1,041 publications were identified. The United States and China contributed to approximately 50% of the publications, 336 and 208, respectively. Both countries drove the increase in publications after 2015. A paper entitled "Pembrolizumab in patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer: Phase IB KEYNOTE-012 Study" that was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Nanda et al. was the most cited (715 citations). The keywords found in this research were grouped into four clusters: "mechanism," "vaccination," "PD-L1," and "chemotherapy." The terms "tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes" and "PD-1/PD-L1" are among the latest hotspots, which mostly appeared in 2017. Author keyword analysis revealed that recent trends in breast cancer immunotherapy focus on the triple-negative breast cancer subtype and PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint pathway and inhibitors. This study analyzed global trends in immunotherapy research on breast cancer over the past 10 years and provided insight into the features and research hotspots of the articles in this issue.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/4708394
  13. Anim Cogn. 2020 Nov 21.
      In recent decades, cognitive and behavioral knowledge in dogs seems to have developed considerably, as deduced from the published peer-reviewed articles. However, to date, the worldwide trend of scientific research on dog cognition and behavior has never been explored using a bibliometric approach, while the evaluation of scientific research has increasingly become important in recent years. In this review, we compared the publication trend of the articles in the last 34 years on dogs' cognitive and behavioral science with those in the general category "Behavioral Science". We found that, after 2005, there has been a sharp increase in scientific publications on dogs. Therefore, the year 2005 has been used as "starting point" to perform an in-depth bibliometric analysis of the scientific activity in dog cognitive and behavioral studies. The period between 2006 and 2018 is taken as the study period, and a backward analysis was also carried out. The data analysis was performed using "bibliometrix", a new R-tool used for comprehensive science mapping analysis. We analyzed all information related to sources, countries, affiliations, co-occurrence network, thematic maps, collaboration network, and world map. The results scientifically support the common perception that dogs are attracting the interest of scholars much more now than before and more than the general trend in cognitive and behavioral studies. Both, the changes in research themes and new research themes, contributed to the increase in the scientific production on the cognitive and behavioral aspects of dogs. Our investigation may benefit the researchers interested in the field of cognitive and behavioral science in dogs, thus favoring future research work and promoting interdisciplinary collaborations.
    Keywords:  Behavior; Behavioral science; Bibliometrix; Cognition; Dog; Science mapping
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-020-01448-2
  14. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2020 Nov 16.
      The anthropogenic emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere is recognized as the main contributor to global climate change. To date, scientists have developed various strategies, including CO2 utilization technologies, to reduce global carbon emissions. This paper presents the global scientific landscape of the CO2 utilization research from 1995 to 2019 based on a bibliometric analysis of 1875 publications extracted from Web of Science. The findings indicate a major increase in the number of publications and citations received from 2015 to 2019, denoting a fast-emerging research trend. The dynamics of global CO2 utilization research is partly driven by China's policies and research funding to promote low-carbon economic development. Applied Energy is recognized as a core journal in this research topic. The utilization of CO2 is a multidisciplinary topic that has progressed by multidimensional collaborations at the country and organizations levels, while the formation of co-authorship networks at the individual level is mostly influenced by the authors' affiliations. Keyword co-occurrence analysis reveals a rapid evolution in the CO2 utilization strategies from chemical fixation in carbonates and epoxides to pilot-scale testing of power-to-gas technologies in Europe and the USA. The development of efficient power-to-fuel technologies and biological utilization routes (using microalgae and bacteria) will probably be the next research priorities in CO2 utilization research.
    Keywords:  Carbon capture and utilization; Carbon footprint; Climate change; Energy storage; Power to X; Power to liquid
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11643-w
  15. Curr Med Res Opin. 2020 Nov 18. 1
      Aim: Non-peer-reviewed manuscripts posted as preprints can be cited in peer-reviewed articles which has both merits and demerits. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors guidelines mandate authors to declare preprints at the time of manuscript submission. We evaluated the trends in pharma-authored research published as preprints and their scientific and social media impact by analyzing citation rates and altmetrics. Research design and methods: We searched EuroPMC, PrePubMed bioRxiv and MedRxiv for preprints submitted by authors affiliated with the top 50 pharmaceutical companies from inception till June 15, 2020. Data were extracted and analyzed from the search results. The number of citations for the preprint and peer-reviewed versions (if available) were compiled using the Publish or Perish software (version 1.7). Altmetric score was calculated using the "Altmetric it" online tool. Statistical significance was analyzed by Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Results: A total of 498 preprints were identified across bioRxiv (83%), PeerJ (5%), F1000Research (6%), Nature Proceedings (3%), Preprint.org (3%), Wellcome Open Research preprint (0.2%) and MedRxiv (0.2%) servers. Roche, Sanofi and Novartis contributed 56% of the retrieved preprints. The median number of citations for the included preprints was 0 (IQR =1, Min-Max =0-45). The median number of citations for the published preprints and unpublished preprints was 0 for both (IQR =1, Min-Max =0-25 and IQR =1, Min-Max =0-45, respectively; P = .091). The median Altmetric score of the preprints was 4 (IQR =10.5, Min-Max =0-160). Conclusion: Pharma-authored research is being increasingly published as preprints and is also being cited in other peer-reviewed publications and discussed in social media.
    Keywords:  Guidelines; Medical communications; Metrics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/03007995.2020.1853083
  16. Heliyon. 2020 Nov;6(11): e05428
      A large body of literature exists on analysis of citation and reviews of application of efficiency frontier. However, the reviews that assessed the determinants of citation counts did not focus on frontier applications. We contribute to the literature by identifying the drivers of citations of frontier application publications on Ghana. We employed two-part mixture modelling with inverse hyperbolic sine (IHS) transformation of the second part, which was found to be more appropriate than single equation IHS transformation modelling, for our data. Use of stochastic frontier analysis or data envelopment analysis did not drive citations counts. However, quality of journals in which frontier application studies were published and accessibility of the journals to readers, drive citation counts. Authors, institutions and funders of studies on frontier applications may consider these over collaborations, in seeking growth in citation counts.
    Keywords:  Citations; Efficiency; Frontier applications; Ghana; Inverse hyperbolic sine; Productivity; Social science
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05428
  17. JMIR Med Inform. 2020 Nov 17. 8(11): e21931
      BACKGROUND: The application of China's big data sector in cancer research is just the beginning. In recent decades, more and more Chinese scholars have used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database for clinical cancer research. A comprehensive bibliometric study is required to analyze the tendency of Chinese scholars to utilize the SEER database for clinical cancer research and provide a reference for the future of big data analytics.OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to assess the trend of publications on clinical cancer research in mainland China from the SEER database.
    METHODS: We performed a PubMed search to identify papers published with data from the SEER database in mainland China until August 31, 2020.
    RESULTS: A total of 1566 papers utilizing the SEER database that were authored by investigators in mainland China were identified. Over the past years, significant growth in studies based on the SEER database was observed (P<.001). The top 5 research topics were breast cancer (213/1566, 13.6%), followed by colorectal cancer (185/1566, 11.8%), lung cancer (179/1566, 11.4%), gastrointestinal cancer (excluding colorectal cancer; 149/1566, 9.5%), and genital system cancer (93/1566, 5.9%). Approximately 75.2% (1178/1566) of papers were published from the eastern coastal region of China, and Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (Shanghai, China) was the most active organization. Overall, 267 journals were analyzed in this study, of which Oncotarget was the most contributing journal (136/267, 50.9%). Of the 1566 papers studied, 585 (37.4%) were published in the second quartile, 489 (31.2%) in the third quartile, 312 (19.9%) in the first quartile, and 80 (5.1%) in the fourth quartile, with 100 (6.4%) having an unknown Journal Citation Reports ranking.
    CONCLUSIONS: Clinical cancer research based on the SEER database in mainland China underwent constant and rapid growth during recent years. High-quality and comprehensive cancer databases based on Chinese demographic data are urgently needed.
    Keywords:  China; PubMed; SEER program; bibliometrics; cancer; data collection
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2196/21931
  18. An Acad Bras Cienc. 2020 ;pii: S0001-37652020000500702. [Epub ahead of print]92(3): e20201116
      A system called QUALIS was implemented in Brazil in 2009, intended to rank graduate programs from different subject areas and promote selected national journals. Since this system uses a complicated suit of criteria (differing among subject areas) to group journals into discrete categories, it could potentially create incentives to publish in low-impact journals ranked highly by QUALIS. Here I assess the influence of the QUALIS journal ranking system on the global impact of Brazilian science. Brazil shows a steeper decrease in the number of citations per document since the implementation of this QUALIS system, compared to the top Latin American countries publishing more scientific articles. All subject areas showed some degree of bias, with social sciences being usually more biased than natural sciences. Lastly, the decrease in the number of citations over time proved steeper in a more biased subject area, suggesting a faster shift towards low-impact journals. Overall, the findings documented here suggest that the QUALIS system has undermined the global impact of Brazilian science, and reinforce a recent recommendation from an official committee evaluating graduate programs to eliminate QUALIS. A system based on impact metrics could avoid introducing distorted incentives, and thereby boost the global impact of Brazilian science.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202020201116
  19. Psychiatr Q. 2020 Nov 19.
      Suicidal behaviors are a serious but potentially preventable cause of premature death. Increased awareness of the importance of mental health for global health has led to new initiatives, supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN). The suicide mortality rate is one of the indicators covered in the UN's Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3. The aim of this study is to identify the scientific production and its temporal evolution related to the suicide mortality rate indicator in the context of mental disorders and as one of the SDG. A bibliometric analysis was performed in Scopus to assess the related research on suicide mortality rate, including on the context of the third SDG, from inception to September 2, 2020. The set of articles were analyzed for bibliometric measures. A total of 3126 documents about mental health and suicide mortality rate on the context of SDG were collected. Articles were the predominant type of literature on this area (78.3%), with significant expression on the last years, more evident around 2015, the year of adoption of SDGs. Despite a large volume of evidence, the debate about suicide mortality rate as an indicator of SDG is still very sparse suggesting a need for better consensus on its evaluation methods. This study presents useful characteristics for the formulation of new studies and provides specific targets for the construction or improvement of public policies on the context of the SDGs for further discussion on this strategy proposed by the UN.
    Keywords:  Health policy; Suicide; Suicide mortality rate; Sustainable development goals
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-020-09858-8
  20. West J Emerg Med. 2020 Oct 08. 21(6): 242-248
      INTRODUCTION: Scholarship and academic networking are essential for promotion and productivity. To develop education scholarship, the Council of Emergency Medicine Directors (CORD) and Clerkship Directors of Emergency Medicine (CDEM) created an annual Special Issue in Educational Research and Practice of the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine. The objective of this study was to evaluate the network created by the special Issue, and explore changes within the network over time.METHODS: Researchers used bibliometric data from Web of Science to create a social network analysis of institutions publishing in the first four years of the special issue using UCINET software. We analyzed whole-network and node-level metrics to describe variations and changes within the network.
    RESULTS: One hundred and three (56%) Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited emergency medicine programs were involved in 136 articles. The majority of institutions published in one or two issues. Nearly 25% published in three or four issues. The network analysis demonstrated that the mean number of connections per institution increased over the four years (mean of 5.34; standard deviation [SD] 1.27). Mean degree centralization was low at 0.28 (SD 0.05). Network density was low (mean of 0.09; SD 0.01) with little change across four issues. Five institutions scored consistently high in betweenness centrality, demonstrating a role as connectors between institutions within the network and the potential to connect new members to the network.
    CONCLUSION: Network-wide metrics describe a consistently low-density network with decreasing degree centralization over four years. A small number of institutions within the network were persistently key players in the network. These data indicate that, aside from core institutions that publish together, the network is not widely connected. There is evidence that new institutions are coming into the network, but they are not necessarily connected to the core publishing groups. There may be opportunities to intentionally increase connections across the network and create new connections between traditionally high-performing institutions and newer members of the network. Through informal discussions with authors from high-performing institutions, there are specific behaviors that departments may use to promote education scholarship and forge these new connections.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2020.7.46958
  21. J Man Manip Ther. 2020 Nov 17. 1-13
      Objectives: To determine the: 1) quality of articles cited in systematic reviews (SRs); 2) methodological quality of the SRs; and 3) impact of quality on level 1A evidence. Methods: SRs related to musculoskeletal physical therapy interventions were identified. The methodological quality of the SRs and articles cited by the SRs were assessed by two blinded reviewers. Data analysis was performed by a third blinded researcher. Additional comparisons were made based on the Journal Impact Factor, spin, financial bias, and conflict of interest. Results: Twenty-four SRs were identified; 21/24 SRs had 'critically low' quality on the AMSTAR 2. Thirty-four percent of included studies were 'low quality,' and 58% of SRs included studies that had unreported external validity. One-half of the SRs represented 'spin,' and one-third of the SRs generated conclusions based on low-quality clinical trials. Discussion: The 'critically low' SRs methodological quality was exacerbated by low-quality research inclusion. Most SRs failed to follow best practices, including prospective registration and integration of professional librarians in the search process. Based on the high proportion of SRs that include low-quality trials and overall low methodological quality, further discussion regarding practice recommendations on level vs. quality of evidence is warranted. Level of Evidence: 1a.
    Keywords:  Journal impact factor; bias; physical therapists; publications; randomized controlled trials as topic
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/10669817.2020.1839728
  22. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Nov 16. pii: E8469. [Epub ahead of print]17(22):
      The term "green products" is used commonly to describe the products that seek to protect or enhance the environment during production, use, or disposal by conserving resources and minimizing the use of toxic agents, pollution, and waste. Hence, green products offer potential benefits to the environment and human health. Therefore, environmentally conscious consumers have shown an enhanced inclination for them. Consumer preferences, environmental activism, and stringent regulations have forced sustainability-oriented firms to shift their focus to producing green products. The present study uses bibliometric tools and various indicators to discern research progress in the field of green products over the period 1964-2019. Further, VOSviewer software is applied to map the main trends. A total of 1619 publications during the study period were extracted from the SCOPUS database using different keywords related to the green products. The data analysis indicates that the field of green products has experienced significant growth since 1964, especially in the last 14 years. In terms of publications and citations, the United States is the leading country. The field of research concerning green products has evolved from the early debates on sustainable design, green marketing, sustainable development, and sustainability. The topic seems to be advancing into a variety of green themes related to consumer trust and purchase intentions, branding and loyalty, and environmental and health consciousness.
    Keywords:  bibliometric analysis; green marketing; green product; literature review; sustainability; sustainable development
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17228469
  23. iScience. 2020 Nov 20. 23(11): 101698
      The reproducibility crisis is a multifaceted problem involving ingrained practices within the scientific community. Fortunately, some causes are addressed by the author's adherence to rigor and reproducibility criteria, implemented via checklists at various journals. We developed an automated tool (SciScore) that evaluates research articles based on their adherence to key rigor criteria, including NIH criteria and RRIDs, at an unprecedented scale. We show that despite steady improvements, less than half of the scoring criteria, such as blinding or power analysis, are routinely addressed by authors; digging deeper, we examined the influence of specific checklists on average scores. The average score for a journal in a given year was named the Rigor and Transparency Index (RTI), a new journal quality metric. We compared the RTI with the Journal Impact Factor and found there was no correlation. The RTI can potentially serve as a proxy for methodological quality.
    Keywords:  Bioinformatics; Biological Sciences; Biological Sciences Research Methodologies; Methodology in Biological Sciences
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2020.101698
  24. Rev Salud Publica (Bogota). 2020 Nov 13. 21(1): 109-114
      OBJECTIVE: A systematic review was conducted to know the contributions of social network analysis (SNA) to public health research (PHR).MATERIALS AND METHODS: The databases analyzed were Academic Search Complete, PubMed and MEDLINE. A total of 1 151 articles were processed, of which 361 met the inclusion criteria and make up the final sample.
    RESULTS: The generic profiles of assessed papers are quantitative (84.5%) and cross-sectional (64.5%), and use conventional statistical procedures to test hypotheses (68.9%). Studies examining the role of networks as a risk factor or health protection (38%), epidemiological research (34.6%), and work analyzing systems that provide social and health care (24.4%) are noteworthy.
    CONCLUSIONS: Remarkable differences among research were identified at the egocentric and sociocentric levels of analysis. Results are discussed in order to increase the effectiveness of PHR through SNA methods.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.15446/rsap.V21n1.68530
  25. Ecancermedicalscience. 2020 ;14 1129
      Background: Breast cancer is a major cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality among women in the the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Conflict and political instability in the region may affect medical research output, including that on breast cancer. This scoping review aims to systematically identify and map breast cancer publications across different stages of the cancer care pathway and across conflict-affected countries within the MENA region. The findings of this work will highlight the impact of conflict on cancer research that could be mitigated with the proper contextualised capacity strengthening intervention.Methods: We followed the PRISMA-Scr methodology. We searched for peer-reviewed publications on topics related to breast cancer in 11 databases: Medline, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, PROQUEST, CINAHL, Global Index Medicus, Arab World Searches Complete, Popline, Scopus and Google Scholar using both controlled vocabulary and keywords. Publication abstracts and full-text versions were screened for duplicates and included in our study based on pre-specified eligibility criteria: focused on breast cancer, related to the specific country of analysis and human or health system studies. We used a structured data extraction form to extract information related to the article, its methodology and the cancer care pathway being studied.
    Results: A total of 19,215 citations were retrieved from our search. After removing duplicates, a total of 8,622 articles remained. Title and abstract screening retained 1,613 articles. Publications with first author affiliations to Turkey were consistently the highest across all categories of the cancer care pathway. Trends show an increase in articles from Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine after 2015. Early exploratory and epidemiological studies represented the majority of breast cancer research, followed by policy and implementation research and lastly experimental research. Most research conducted followed an observational study design. Important gaps were identified in the research output related to advanced breast cancer and palliative care (Libya, Syria and Yemen), mental health (Libya), and knowledge and education of breast cancer (Libya and Syria).
    Conclusion: This scoping review has identified key areas in breast cancer research that lack significant research activity in conflict MENA settings. These areas, including but are not limited to palliative care, mental health, and education, can be prioritised and developed through regional collaboration and contextualised capacity strengthening initiatives.
    Keywords:  breast cancer; conflict; research capacity
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3332/ecancer.2020.1129
  26. Eur J Epidemiol. 2020 Nov 17.
      We analysed the Horizon 2020 project database, currently the European Union's (EU) largest framework programme for research and innovation-nearly 80 billion euros available over 7 years (2014-2020), to estimate the amount and type of EU-supported biomedical and health research and funding distribution among EU member states and non-European countries. Out of 20,877 projects as of 14th January 2019, a total of 4865 projects were classified as human health related. Ninety-four countries/territories worldwide participated in at least one biomedical project. The EU-15 original member states showed the highest participation as project leaders/partners and for acquired funding. Strong unequal funding distribution and participation between EU-15 and the 13 newest members-with EU-15 receiving about 87% of funding and EU-13 only 3%-have been evidenced. For both EU-15 and EU-13 we detected about 20% of projects involving the public and private sectors, according to Horizon 2020 guidelines. The largest percentage of projects was in the areas of biotechnological research (28.28%) and "basic research" (26.95%); these two sectors together accounted for 46.99% of the total funding assigned (7.9 billion euros). Research in neurosciences and neurological diseases appeared to be an increasing study area. Neurological and mental diseases covered about 21% of projects. Epidemiological studies accounted for about 5% of the total projects and for 14% of funding. Strong correlations were shown by indicators of financial and scientific capacity to identify success rates in obtaining EU funding, making the gap between countries with strong and weak research infrastructures difficult to overcome.
    Keywords:  Biomedical research; Country participation; Epidemiology; Funding distribution; Horizon 2020; Research fields
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-020-00690-9
  27. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2020 Nov 17.
      Deviations from adequate use and reporting of PROMs may be problematic and misleading. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent of such problems in randomized clinical trials (RCTs). RCTs involving sports medicine research that used PROMs as primary outcomes were identified in 13 preselected journals. The articles were reviewed for nine potential problems related to how the PROM was used and how the data had been reported. The potential problems were: aggregating subscale scores; combining patient-reported scores with physical, clinical, or para-clinical measures; using a PROM to diagnose or evaluate the individual patient; using a PROM for one leg or arm; selectively excluding domains or items; constructing a PROM for the specific occasion; mixing PROM formats (i.e., digital, paper, telephone, e-mail, in person); ambiguous instructions for how the PROM should be completed; and recall bias. As covariates, we registered journal impact factor, year of publication, and existence of a registered protocol. In 29 (53.7%) of 54 identified RCTs, at least one potential problem was identified, the most common being aggregation of domain scores. This was not different with a published protocol or dependent on journal rankings, except for exclusion of domains, which was most common in high-ranking journals. Aggregation of domain scores was significantly less common in recently published articles compared with older articles (p = 0.03). Potential problematic use of PROMs and reporting of PROM data are common in RCTs, also in high-ranking journals, but less so in more recent articles.
    Keywords:  PROM; Patient Reported Outcome Measures; inadequate use; potential bias; sports medicine; sports traumatology
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13880
  28. Proc Math Phys Eng Sci. 2020 Oct;476(2242): 20200746
      At Proceedings of the Royal Society A, something we are always concerned and vigilant about is publication malpractice. This editorial examines the background to some small changes to our reviewer forms that will help us in identifying patterns of worrying behaviour. The importance of this in the context of the relationship of science to policy-making and the public perception of science is stressed.
    Keywords:  bibliometrics; citations; ethics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2020.0746
  29. Nature. 2019 Nov 19.
      
    Keywords:  Careers; Funding; Institutions
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03585-2
  30. Cornea. 2020 Nov 16.
      PURPOSE: To describe the most cited article in the 36 year history of Cornea.METHODS: All articles from Cornea in the past 36 years were reviewed to find the the article with the greatest number of citations.
    RESULTS: Descemet-Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty by Mark S. Gorovoy, MD, Cornea 2006;25:886-889 was found to have the greatest number of citations.
    CONCLUSION: This study led to the single greatest change of cornea transplant going from Penetrating Keratoplasty to Descemet Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/ICO.0000000000002606