bims-skolko Biomed News
on Scholarly communication
Issue of 2023–11–12
twenty-six papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society



  1. Nature. 2023 Nov 06.
      
    Keywords:  Ethics; Publishing; Scientific community
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03464-x
  2. Skinmed. 2023 ;21(5): 321-327
      Important components of a medical journal include its readers, authors, editor, and owner. Editor is the individual to whom the journal is branded. The editor determines the journal's published content and establishes its caliber. The success of a journal depends on the general and specific responsibilities of the editor toward its readers, authors, and owner. For a journal to maintain its stature of excellence, the expectations of the editor-including editorial independence-must be preserved; therefore, in the best interest of the journal, the owner must provide unequivocal support to the editor.
  3. J Appl Behav Anal. 2023 Nov 08.
      This article describes the outcomes of a survey of 93 editors in chief and associate editors of behavior-analytic journals. We sought information about variables that influence their judgment of the selection of reviewers, selection of review panels, and quality of reviews. When selecting reviewers, participants rated highly expertise on the topic, history of conducting good reviews, and history of writing constructive and respectful reviews. When selecting review panels, participants rated highly stratifying reviewers based on their expertise, avoiding conflicts of interest, and the matching based on the area of expertise between reviewers and authors. When evaluating the quality of a review, participants rated highly considerations related to research design, the science underlying the main idea, and accurate interpretations of the data. Participants did not rate copyediting as important. Overall, the extent to which reviewer selection was influenced by membership in underrepresented groups varied. These findings can inform the development of training programs for teaching peer-review repertoires.
    Keywords:  behavior-analytic journals; editorial process; peer review
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.1033
  4. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2023 Nov 08. pii: zxad277. [Epub ahead of print]
      In an effort to expedite the publication of articles, AJHP is posting manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time.
    Keywords:  manuscript review; peer review; publishing peer review; reviewer
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/ajhp/zxad277
  5. J Appl Behav Anal. 2023 Nov 10.
      The peer-review component of the editorial process is designed to facilitate quality control, legitimize scientific research, and self-regulate scientific communities. Even though serving as a reviewer undoubtedly has direct and indirect benefits, the peer-review system and the methods of teaching scholars to conduct reviews are nascent and relatively underdeveloped. This article describes the peer-review process and provides recommendations for writing reviews for scientific journals. The recommendations were developed based on the expertise and preferences of editors in chief and associate editors for behavior-analytic journals (Cengher & LeBlanc, in press), and they include honoring your responsibility, knowing your audience, being constructive and kind, and carefully evaluating the merits of the study or review. These guidelines may serve as a primer for scholars who want to conduct reviews for scientific journals in behavior analysis.
    Keywords:  editorial process; guidelines; mentorship; peer review; primer; tutorial
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.1034
  6. J Clin Epidemiol. 2023 Nov 06. pii: S0895-4356(23)00292-5. [Epub ahead of print]
       OBJECTIVE: To investigate the extent to which articles of economic evaluations of healthcare interventions indexed in MEDLINE incorporate research practices that promote transparency, openness and reproducibility.
    STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We evaluated a random sample of health economic evaluations indexed in MEDLINE during 2019. We included articles written in English reporting an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICERs) in terms of costs per life years gained, quality-adjusted life years and/or disability-adjusted life years. Reproducible research practices, openness and transparency in each article was extracted in duplicate. We explored whether reproducible research practices were associated with self-report use of a guideline.
    RESULTS: We included 200 studies published in 147 journals. Almost half were published as open access articles (n=93; 47%). Most studies (n=150; 75%) were model-based economic evaluations. In 109 (55%) studies, authors self-reported use a guideline (e.g., for study conduct or reporting). Few studies (n=31; 16%) reported working from a protocol. In 112 (56%) studies, authors reported the data needed to recreate the ICERs for the base case analysis. This percentage was higher in studies using a guideline than studies not using a guideline (72/109 [66%] with guideline vs. 40/91 [44%] without guideline; risk ratio 1.50, 95% confidence interval 1.15 - 1.97). Only 10 (5%) studies mentioned access to raw data and analytic code for reanalyses.
    CONCLUSION: Transparency, openness and reproducible research practices are frequently underused in health economic evaluations. This study provides baseline data to compare future progress in the field.
    Keywords:  Cost-effectiveness analysis; data sharing; economic evaluation; methodology; quality; reporting; reproducibility
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2023.10.024
  7. JMIR Form Res. 2023 Nov 10. 7 e49459
       BACKGROUND: ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI designed to generate human-like responses to prompts.
    OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the ability of GPT-4 to generate scientific content and assist in scientific writing using medical vitamin B12 as the topic. Furthermore, the study will compare the performance of GPT-4 to its predecessor, GPT-3.5.
    METHODS: The study examined responses from GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 to vitamin B12-related prompts, focusing on their quality and characteristics and comparing them to established scientific literature.
    RESULTS: The results indicated that GPT-4 can potentially streamline scientific writing through its ability to edit language and write abstracts, keywords, and abbreviation lists. However, significant limitations of ChatGPT were revealed, including its inability to identify and address bias, inability to include recent information, lack of transparency, and inclusion of inaccurate information. Additionally, it cannot check for plagiarism or provide proper references. The accuracy of GPT-4's answers was found to be superior to GPT-3.5.
    CONCLUSIONS: ChatGPT can be considered a helpful assistant in the writing process but not a replacement for a scientist's expertise. Researchers must remain aware of its limitations and use it appropriately. The improvements in consecutive ChatGPT versions suggest the possibility of overcoming some present limitations in the near future.
    Keywords:  AI; AI solutions; ChatGPT; GPT-3.5; GPT-4; artificial intelligence; language editing; scientific content; vitamin B12; wide range information
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2196/49459
  8. Brain Commun. 2023 ;5(6): fcad266
      Our Scientific Editor discusses the current use of artificial intelligence in writing academic papers and reports the updated guidelines for Brain Communications on the use of this tool in scientific writing.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcad266
  9. JMA J. 2023 Oct 16. 6(4): 520-522
      The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations are used by medical journals worldwide to guide editors and authors regarding "best practices" related to the intersection between research and publishing. In this opinion paper, we bring two discussion points to the attention of readers and users of the ICMJE recommendations. The first pertains to journals' use of the old conflicts of interest form, replaced in 2021 with a new disclosure form. The second relates to inconsistent or outdated policies in journals' instructions for authors mismatching the current ICMJE recommendations. The ICMJE does not monitor how journals use or apply the ICMJE recommendations. Thus, the editors must be mindful of updates and changes relevant to the authors. Furthermore, authors should carefully examine journals before submission to ensure that journals use updated forms and policies and should be mindful of submitting to non-ICMJE-recommendations-conforming journals despite claiming to follow them.
    Keywords:  accountability; conflicts of interest; editorial responsibility; ethics; transparency
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.31662/jmaj.2023-0088
  10. J Med Libr Assoc. 2023 Oct 02. 111(4): 819-822
       Background: Few resources exist to support finding journals that accept case reports by specialty. In 2016, Katherine Akers compiled a list of 160 journals that accepted case reports, which many librarians continue to use 7 years later. Because journals' editorial policies and submission guidelines evolve, finding publication venues for case reports poses a dynamic problem, consisting of reviewing a journal's author guidelines to determine if the journal accepts case report manuscripts. This project aimed to create a more up to date and extensive list of journals that currently accept case reports.
    Case Presentation: 1,874 journal titles were downloaded from PubMed. The team reviewed each journal and identified journal titles that accept case reports. Additional inclusion factors included being indexed in MEDLINE, accessible on the internet, and accepting and publishing English language submissions.
    Discussion: The new journal list includes 1,028 journals covering 129 specialties and is available on the Open Science Framework public page.
    Keywords:  Case Reports; Journals; Publishing
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2023.1747
  11. J Med Libr Assoc. 2023 Oct 02. 111(4): 747-749
      With the arrival of ChatGPT, the academic community has expressed concerns about how generative artificial intelligence will be used by students and researchers alike. After consulting policies from other journals and discussing among the editorial team, we have created a policy on the use of AI on submissions to JMLA. This editorial provides a brief background on these concerns and introduces our policy.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2023.1826
  12. Nature. 2023 Nov 09.
      
    Keywords:  Peer review; Publishing; Research data; Scientific community
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03486-5
  13. Rev Esp Geriatr Gerontol. 2023 Nov 04. pii: S0211-139X(23)00145-2. [Epub ahead of print]59(1): 101424
      Publishing a scientific article is challenging for early-career researchers and clinicians. Success is not solely determined by robust research methods, but also by clear and logical presentation of results. Without clear communication, disruptive findings can be overlooked. A well-structured manuscript leads the reader logically from the introduction to the conclusion. Maintaining a consistent narrative ensures lasting impact. In this paper, we provide practical guidelines for drafting an effective scientific manuscript. Carefully crafted articles increase the chance of acceptance and improve comprehension among diverse specialists. We emphasize the importance of presenting a clear, relevant, and engaging story within a structured framework, highly valued by editors, reviewers, and readers.
    Keywords:  Ciencia; Científicos jóvenes; Escritura; Investigación; Publicación; Publishing; Research; Scientific; Writing; Young Scientists
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regg.2023.101424
  14. J Neurosurg. 2023 Nov 03. 1-7
       OBJECTIVE: The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Joint Cerebrovascular (CV) Section serves as a centralized entity for the dissemination of information related to CV neurosurgery. The quality of scientific conferences, such as the CV Section's Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery Annual Meeting, can be gauged by the number of poster and oral presentations that are published in peer-reviewed journals. However, publication rates from the CV Section's meetings are unknown. The objective of this study was to assess the rate at which abstracts presented at the AANS/CNS CV Section Annual Meeting from 2014 to 2018 were subsequently published in peer-reviewed journals.
    METHODS: The abstract titles for all accepted poster and oral podium presentation abstracts from the 2014-2018 Annual Joint AANS/CNS CV Section Meetings were searched using PubMed. A match was defined as sufficient similarity between the abstract and its corresponding journal publication with regard to title, authors, methods, and results. Five-year impact factors (IFs) from Journal Citation Reports (JCR), the country of the corresponding author, and the number of citations in the Scopus database were obtained using the articles' digital object identifier when available, or the exact article title, journal, and year of publication.
    RESULTS: Of the 607 total poster and oral presentations from the 2014-2018 Annual Meetings of the AANS/CNS Joint CV Section, 46.29% (n = 281) have been published. Published articles received 3233 total citations for an average number of citations per article (± SD) of 10.89 ± 16.37. The average 5-year JCR IF of published studies was 4.64 ± 3.13. Additionally, 98.22% of published abstracts were in publication within 4 years from the time the abstract was presented. The most common peer-reviewed neurosurgical journals featuring these publications were the Journal of Neurosurgery, World Neurosurgery, the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery, Neurosurgery, and the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience.
    CONCLUSIONS: Nearly half of all poster and oral presentations at the annual meetings of the AANS/CNS Joint CV Section from 2014 to 2018 have been published in PubMed-indexed, peer-reviewed journals. The average number of citations per publication (10.89 ± 16.37) reflects the high quality of abstracts accepted for presentation. It is important to continuously assess the quality of research presented at national conferences to ensure that standards are being maintained for the advancement of clinical practice in a given area of medicine. Conference abstract publication rates in peer-reviewed journals represent a way in which research quality can be gauged, and the authors encourage others to conduct similar investigations in their subspecialty area of interest and/or practice.
    Keywords:  AANS/CNS Joint Cerebrovascular Section; SNIS; Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery; abstract; annual meeting; conference; podium presentation; poster presentation; publication rate
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3171/2023.8.JNS231549
  15. Nature. 2023 Nov;623(7986): S9-S12
      
    Keywords:  Cell biology; Climate sciences; Environmental sciences; Publishing; Virology
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03444-1
  16. Nature. 2023 Nov 07.
      
    Keywords:  Materials science; Publishing; Scientific community
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03398-4
  17. Rev Med Inst Mex Seguro Soc. 2023 Oct 02. 61(Suppl 3): S356-S358
      In this issue, the students of the Maestría en Ciencias de la Salud Program, who are generally doctors, publish their work in the format of architectural design. The architectural design, allows to demonstrate in a schematic way, the objective, basal state, maneuver and outcome of their investigations. In this issue of the Revista Médica del IMSS, architectural design is used explicitly for the first time in a scientific publication. This innovation was achieved thanks to the collaboration of the editors and students of the Maestría en Ciencias de la Salud Program.
    Keywords:  Comunicación y Divulgación Científica; Editorial Policies; Palabras clave:Recursos para la Investigación; Políticas Editoriales; Resources for Research; Scientific Communication and Diffusion
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8319733
  18. Eur J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2023 Nov 07. pii: zvad112. [Epub ahead of print]
      
    Keywords:  nursing; publishing; randomized controlled trials; science; systematic reviews
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjcn/zvad112