bims-evares Biomed News
on Evaluation of research
Issue of 2020–06–07
38 papers selected by
Thomas Krichel, Open Library Society



  1. J Optom. 2020 May 30. pii: S1888-4296(20)30003-0. [Epub ahead of print]
       PURPOSE: To analyze scientific research in the field of visual therapy through a bibliometric study.
    METHODS: The database used in this bibliometric study was SCOPUS, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, covering scientific journals, books, and conference proceedings. Using remote downloading techniques, articles published between 1946 and 2017 were selected by entering the main descriptors: "optometric vis* training", "optometric vis* therapy", "vis* therapy", "vis* training" limited to the title, key words and/or abstract. We applied the following bibliometric indicators: Price's index, doubling time and annual growth rate, Price's transience index, Lotka's Law, h factor, and Bradford's zones.
    RESULTS: The authors retrieved 294 original articles from the temporal interval 1946-2017 (articles, reviews, letters to the director, etc.), discarding 15 of them for not meeting the study requirements. Annual growth rate was 39.62%, the timeframe 1987-1983 containing the most number of documents. United States was the country with the highest production, with more than 60% of the records. The most productive institutions are State University of New York System, SUNY State College of Optometry, and Southern California College of Optometry. Classification of authors based on productivity is strongly concentrated in small producers, with a transient index of 80.53. The total number of authors was 488, representing a co-authorship index of 1.75.
    CONCLUSION: Bibliometric studies have become essential tools for assessing scientific publications.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric; Bibliométrico; Entrenamiento visual; Investigación.; Research.; Terapia visual; Vision therapy; Visual training
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optom.2019.12.007
  2. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 May 29. 99(22): e20420
       BACKGROUND: Fungal keratitis is one of the leading causes of ocular morbidity. The prognosis of fungal keratitis is poorer than many other forms of keratitis but the research of which relatively lags behind. We conducted a bibliometric and visualized analysis in order to characterize the overall status, general trends and current foci of keratomycosis research field.
    METHODS: Literature database ranged from 1959 to 2019 was obtained from web of science core collection and analyzed by Citespace and VOSviewer software.
    RESULTS: A total of 1906 papers of fungal keratitis were retrieved and derived a 27,917 references document set. The number of publications increased rapidly in past 30 years. Cornea was the journal published most papers of keratomycosis. The leading countries were United States of America (USA), India and Peoples Republic of China (PRC), from where came the most productive and most cited institutions and authors. Co-cited reference analysis revealed the most cited manuscripts were concerned about epidemiology or spectrum. Lens-associated Fusarium, amphotericin B, voriconazole, corneal cross-linking, predisposing factor are some of the high frequency topics in clustered co-cited reference analysis and co-occurrence keywords analysis. Burst detection analysis of keywords showed ocular drug delivery was the new research foci.
    CONCLUSION: From this study, we received an overall view to the current status, trends and hot spots of fungal keratitis research field. Visualized bibliometric analysis is an efficient way for literature learning and useful for future researchers.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000020420
  3. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 May 29. 99(22): e20338
       BACKGROUND: Data mining technology used in the field of medicine has been widely studied by scholars all over the world. But there is little research on medical data mining (MDM) from the perspectives of bibliometrics and visualization, and the research topics and development trends in this field are still unclear.
    METHODS: This paper has applied bibliometric visualization software tools, VOSviewer 1.6.10 and CiteSpace V, to study the citation characteristics, international cooperation, author cooperation, and geographical distribution of the MDM.
    RESULTS: A total of 1575 documents are obtained, and the most frequent document type is article (1376). SHAN NH is the most productive author, with the highest number of publications of 12, and the Gillies's article (750 times citation) is the most cited paper. The most productive country and institution in MDM is the USA (559) and US FDA (35), respectively. The Journal of Biomedical Informatics, Expert Systems with Applications and Journal of Medical Systems are the most productive journals, which reflected the nature of the research, and keywords "classification (790)" and "system (576)" have the strongest strength. The hot topics in MDM are drug discovery, medical imaging, vaccine safety, and so on. The 3 frontier topics are reporting system, precision medicine, and inflammation, and would be the foci of future research.
    CONCLUSION: The present study provides a panoramic view of data mining methods applied in medicine by visualization and bibliometrics. Analysis of authors, journals, institutions, and countries could provide reference for researchers who are fresh to the field in different ways. Researchers may also consider the emerging trends when deciding the direction of their study.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000020338
  4. Rev Bras Anestesiol. 2020 May 22. pii: S0034-7094(19)30354-X. [Epub ahead of print]
       OBJECTIVE: The limited number of bibliometric studies in the literature have generally focused on the top-cited studies in the field of anesthesia, however, there is a lack of studies that made a holistic bibliometric evaluation of these works. The purpose of this study is to make a contemporary summary of the articles published in the field of anesthesia within the last 10 years through detailed bibliometric methods.
    METHODS: The articles published between the years 2009 and 2018 were downloaded from the Web of Science (WoS) database and analyzed using bibliometric methods. The literature review was conducted using the keyword "Anesthesiology" in the "Research Area" category via the advanced search option available in WoS. The relation between the number of publications of the countries and the Gross Domestic Products and Human Development Index values were analyzed using Spearman's correlation coefficient. The number of articles between the years 2019 and 2021 was estimated through linear regression analysis.
    RESULTS: A review of the literature indicated 41,003 articles in the Web of Science database. Estimations included 4,910 (3,971-5,849) articles for the year 2019. There was a high-level, positive significant correlation between the number of publications and Gross Domestic Product (r=0.776, p<0.001).
    CONCLUSION: The findings show that countries with high income are effective in the field of anesthesia, which indicates a strong association between research productivity and economic development. Undeveloped and developing countries should be encouraged to conduct research in the field of anesthesia.
    Keywords:  Analgesia; Anestesia; Anesthesia; Bibliometria; Bibliometrics; Cientometria; Scientometrics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjan.2020.02.003
  5. Restor Dent Endod. 2020 May;45(2): e17
       Objectives: Citation analysis provides a unique insight into how scientific interests and research trends have changed over time. The aim of this study was to report on the 50 top-cited papers in dental stem cell research using the Science Citation Index Expanded provided by the Web of Science database to determine the academic importance of each contribution.
    Materials and Methods: After the screening, article title and type, total citations and citations per year, publication journal, publication year, first and senior authors, country of origin, institution, and university of reprint author were documented for the 50 top-cited articles in dental stem cell research. Keyword analysis was performed to determine which keywords were most/least popular.
    Results: Top 50-cited articles were cited between 179 to 2,275 times. The majority of papers were published in 2008 and originated from the United States with the highest contribution from the National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research. Journal of Dental Research published the highest number of top-cited articles, followed by Stem Cells and Journal of Endodontics. The greatest number of articles was published by two individual authors, Shi and Gronthos. Among 197 unique keywords, dental pulp stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells were the most frequently used. Thirty-eight of the 50 most cited articles were original articles, and 37 of them were in the field of basic science.
    Conclusions: Basic science studies in dental stem cell research published in high impact factor journals had the highest citation rates.
    Keywords:  Bibliometrics; Citation analysis; Dental stem cell
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5395/rde.2020.45.e17
  6. Cir Esp. 2020 Jun 01. pii: S0009-739X(20)30170-6. [Epub ahead of print]
       INTRODUCTION: The number of citations is considered as an indirect indicator of the merit of an article, journal or researcher, although it is not an infallible method to determine scientific quality. Our goal is to determine the characteristics of the articles most cited about pancreas and laparoscopy.
    METHODS: We performed a search of all articles published in any journal about pancreas and laparoscopy until September 2019 and selected the 100 most cited papers. We recorded number of citations, journal, year of publication, quartil, impact factor, institution, country, authors type of paper, type of surgery, topic and area.
    RESULTS: The top 100 citations account 10,970 citations in total. The journal with the most articles is Surgical Endoscopy and 2007 is the year with the highest number of articles in the top 100 citations. The percentage of publications from America and Europe are similar. Case series is the most frequently paper, outcomes/morbidity is the most frequently discussed topic, and distal pancreatectomy is the most frequently type of surgery.
    CONCLUSIONS: This bibliometric study on pancreas and laparoscopy is conditioned by the time factor, since laparoscopy has arrived later at pancreatic surgery, probably due to the morbidity and mortality associated with pancreatic surgery and the need for a high specialization in this field. The literature is recent and scarce. More and better-quality studies are needed in this field.
    Keywords:  Article; Artículo; Bibliometrics; Bibliometría; Cirugía; Cita; Citation; Laparoscopia; Laparoscopy; Pancreas; Páncreas; Surgery
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ciresp.2020.05.001
  7. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2020 May 23. pii: S0303-8467(20)30238-9. [Epub ahead of print]194 105895
      The clinical management of medulloblastoma has undergone significant transformation since the recent dawn of the molecular era. The aim of this analysis was to evaluate citation and other bibliometric characteristics of the 100 most cited medulloblastoma articles in the literature to better understand the current state of our research efforts into this diagnosis. Elsevier's Scopus database was searched for the 100 most cited articles that focused on medulloblastoma. Articles were dichotomized as either primarily basic science (BSc) or clinical (CL) articles. Various bibliometric parameters were summarized and compared between BSc and CL articles using Pearson's Chi-square and Mann Whitney U tests. Of the 100 most cited articles, 52 were characterized as BSc articles and 48 as CL articles. Overall median (range) values were as follows: citation count 252 (164-1,270); citation rate per year 17.5 (2.5-110); number of authors 11 (1-135); and publication year 2005 (1925-2014). Articles were published in a total of 40 different journals, and the majority originated in the US (n = 60). When compared to CL articles, BSc articles reported significantly greater citation rates per year (P < 0.01), and more recent years of publication (P < 0.01). In summary, although similar in overall proportion, BSc articles demonstrated significantly increased bibliometric parameters of impact in this field by the successful clustering molecular subtypes. Moving forward, it will be of great interest to see how the findings from these impactful BSc articles will translate into future clinical initiatives and subsequently high-impact CL articles.
    Keywords:  basic science; bibliometric; clinical; impactful; medulloblastoma; most cited; sonic hedgehog
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clineuro.2020.105895
  8. In Vivo. 2020 Jun;34(3 Suppl): 1613-1617
       BACKGROUND/AIM: To evaluate the research trends in coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
    MATERIALS AND METHODS: A bibliometric analysis was performed using a machine learning bibliometric methodology. Information regarding publication outputs, countries, institutions, journals, keywords, funding and citation counts was retrieved from Scopus database.
    RESULTS: A total of 1883 eligible papers were returned. An exponential increase in the COVID-19 publications occurred in the last months. As expected, China produced the majority of articles, followed by the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Italy. There is greater collaboration between highly contributing authors and institutions. The "BMJ" published the highest number of papers (n=129) and "The Lancet" had the most citations (n=1439). The most ubiquitous topic was COVID-19 clinical features.
    CONCLUSION: This bibliometric analysis presents the most influential references related to COVID-19 during this time and could be useful to improve understanding and management of COVID-19.
    Keywords:  COVID-19; bibliometric analysis; coronavirus; machine learning; management
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.21873/invivo.11951
  9. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 May 22. 99(21): e20334
       BACKGROUND: Team science research includes authors from various fields collaborating to publish their work on certain topics. Despite the numerous papers that discussed the ordering of author names and the contributions of authors to an article, no paper evaluatedIn addition, few researchers publish academic articles without co-author collaboration. Whether the bibliometric indexes (eg, h-/x-index) of sole-author researchers are higher than those of other types of multiple authors is required for comparison. We aimed to evaluate a productive author who published 114 sole-author articles with exceptional RA and RD in academics.
    METHODS: By searching the PubMed database (Pubmed.com), we used the keyword of (Taiwan[affiliation]) from 2016 to 2017 and downloaded 29,356 articles. One physician (Dr. Tseng from the field of Internal Medicine) who published 12 articles as a single author was selected. His articles and citations were searched in PubMed. A comparison of various types of author ordering placements was conducted using sensitivity analysis to inspect whether this sole author earns the highest metrics in RA. Social network analysis (SNA), Gini coefficient (GC), pyramid plot, and the Kano diagram were applied to gather the following data for visualization: RESULTS:: We observed that CONCLUSIONS:: The metrics on RA are high for the sole author studied. The author's RD can be denoted by the MeSH terms and measured by the GC. The author-weighted scheme is required for quantifying author credits in an article to evaluate the author's RA. Social network analysis incorporating the Kano diagrams provided insights into the relationships between actors (eg, coauthors, MeSH terms, or journals). The methods used in this study can be replicated to evaluate other productive studies on RA and RD in the future.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000020334
  10. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2020 May 22. pii: S0301-2115(20)30163-9. [Epub ahead of print]
       OBJECTIVE: Although breech presentations occur in 3-5% of term deliveries, the mode of delivery still remains a topic of debate. Hence, this study aimed to analyze the worldwide research output on breech presentation. All relevant publications issued in the Web of Science from 1900 to 2014 were assessed by an objective, standardized bibliometric procedure.
    STUDY DESIGN: In this retrospective, descriptive study, we used the computerized NewQIS platform, to identify publications by a specific search term and to analyze them regarding quantitative parameters (e.g., countries of origin, journals) as well as qualitative characteristics (e.g., citation rate, country-specific H-index). In addition to geographical aspects, chronological developments and collaboration networks were investigated. In order to visualize the results, anamorphic maps were generated by the innovative "density equalizing map projections"(DEMP) technology.
    RESULTS: A total of 1,438 original articles, reviews, "Letters" and "Abstracts" on breech presentation were identified. 86% of this work was written in English. The highest number and the most cited publications came from the US and Canada as well as Western European countries. Exceptions were Israel and South Africa that appeared among the leading countries. The collaboration network included 26 countries, dominated by the US and the UK. We also present a table of the 14 most cited publications in the world.
    SUMMARY: This study underlines that the mere total of only 1,438 publications on breech do not do justice to this relevant and controversially discussed topic. The global research output was dominated by the industrialized world. Developing and emerging countries are largely excluded from research activities. To minimize this imbalance and to foster scientific collaborations, future research on this topic needs to be planned and funded according to these shortcomings.
    Keywords:  breech presentation; density equalizing mapping; research architecture
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejogrb.2020.03.047
  11. BMC Health Serv Res. 2020 Jun 05. 20(1): 504
       BACKGROUND: Due to an increasingly elderly population, a higher incidence of chronic diseases and higher expectations regarding public service provision, healthcare services are under increasing strain to cut costs while maintaining quality. The importance of promoting systems of co-produced health between stakeholders has gained considerable traction both in the literature and in public sector policy debates. This study provides a comprehensive map of the extant literature and identifies the main themes and future research needs.
    METHODS: A quantitative bibliometric analysis was carried out consisting of a performance analysis, science mapping, and a scientific collaboration analysis. Web of Science (WoS) was chosen to extract the dataset; the search was refined by language, i.e. English, and type of publication, i.e. journal academic articles and reviews. No time limitation was selected.
    RESULTS: The dataset is made up of 295 papers ranging from 1994 to May 2019. The analysis highlighted an annual percentage growth rate in the topic of co-production of about 25%. The articles retrieved are split between 1225 authors and 148 sources. This fragmentation was confirmed by the collaboration analysis, which revealed very few long-lasting collaborations. The scientific production is geographically polarised within the EU and Anglo-Saxon countries, with the United Kingdom playing a central role. The intellectual structure consists of three main areas: public administration and management, service management and knowledge translation literature. The co-word analysis confirms the relatively low scientific maturity of co-production applied to health services. It shows few well-developed and central terms, which refer to traditional areas of co-production (e.g. public health, social care), and some emerging themes related to social and health phenomena (e.g. the elderly and chronic diseases), the use of technologies, and the recent patient-centred approach to care (patient involvement/engagement).
    CONCLUSIONS: The field is still far from being mature. Empirical practices, especially regarding co-delivery and co-management as well as the evaluation of their real impacts on providers and on patients are lacking and should be more widely investigated.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric analysis; Co-citation analysis; Co-creation; Co-production; Co-word analysis; Health; Patient engagement; Science mapping
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05241-2
  12. Hawaii J Health Soc Welf. 2020 May 01. 79(5 Suppl 1): 55-63
      The current state of pediatric research in Hawai'i was analyzed using bibliometric methods. The Web of Science bibliometric database was used to retrieve 989 Hawai'i records, which were compared with 264 064 records from the United States (US). Hawai'i was compared to the country as a whole in terms of total output of research, article types, top journals, co-authorship, and subject areas. The research was also analyzed in 2 time periods, 1980-1999 and 2000-2019. It was found that the total Hawai'i pediatric research output has not kept pace with the US output. However, it was found that Hawai'i had a greater share of Asia-Pacific co-authorship. Subspecialty areas of study also differed between Hawai'i and the US, and have changed over time from a predominance of infectious diseases and immunology research to a focus on emergency medicine and orthopedics. Neonatology research has increased locally as it has nationally. Hawai'i authors tend to publish a greater percentage of full-length original research articles in the top pediatric journals compared to US authors as a whole. The set of institutions publishing pediatric research in Hawai'i has diversified over time. This analysis of the pediatric research in Hawai'i can be used by researchers, funders, and policy makers to direct future research efforts to improve the health of children in Hawai'i.
    Keywords:  Bibliometrics; Hawai‘i; pediatrics
  13. Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2020 Jun 01.
      Legalization of Cannabis in countries like Canada and global demand for non-hallucinating chemical components such as cannabidiols have stimulated the increased interest from academics, industry and regulatory agencies. Subsequent research publication in scientific journals in this field is expected to grow rapidly. However, there have been few research reviews that have quantified patterns in research publications concerning cannabis, nor a literature-based perspective on the historical development, current status and future direction of cannabis research. Here, we performed a bibliometric analysis to address this gap in the scientific literature. A total of 1167 relevant articles (Supplementary file 1) were screened and analyzed using three software tools: HistCite, CiteSpace and Bibliometric Online Analysis Platform. The performances of relevant countries, institutions, authors and journals were presented, the evolutionary trends of different categories were revealed. The historical development of cannabis and CBD research can be clearly divided into three stages, which focus on the chemistry, pharmacology and molecular biology aspects of Cannabis sativa in general and then a focus on CBD related publications. A timeline was drawn to highlight the major trends in the literature including scientific discoveries. Lastly, several suggestions for future research directions in this field are recommended.
    Keywords:  CBD; Cannabis; bibliometric analysis; future trend; marijuana; timeline.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2174/1389201021666200601152118
  14. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 May 29. 99(22): e20406
       BACKGROUND: Structural and functional changes in subchondral bone have been recognized as a key factor in the development of related disease, and subchondral bone may be a new target for the treatment of osteoarthritis. The purpose of our present study is to investigate the global status and trends of subchondral bone research.
    METHOD: Publications related to the studies of subchondral bone from 1993 to 2018 were retrieved from the Science Citation Index-Expanded Web of Science database. The data source was studied and indexed by using bibliometric methodology. For visualized study, bibliographic coupling analysis, co-authorship analysis, co-citation analysis, co-occurrence analysis and the analysis of publication trends in subchondral bone research were conducted by VOS viewer and GraphPadPrism 5 software.
    RESULTS: A total of 4780 publications were included. There is an increasing trend of the relative research interests and number of publications per year globally. The cumulative number of publications about subchondral bone research followed the logistic growth model (Equation is included in full-text article.). The USA made the highest contributions to the global research with the most citations, the highest H-index, and the most total link strength, while Denmark had the highest average citation per item. The journal Osteoarthritis and Cartilage had the largest publication number. Boston University is the most contributive institution. Studies could be divided into 4 clusters: "Mechanism research", "Animal study", "Clinical study" and "Pathological features". Less efforts were put into clinical study.
    CONCLUSION: The number of publications about subchondral bone research would be increasing in the next years based on the current global trends. Attention should be drawn to the latest popular research, including "Mesenchymal stem-cells", "Autologous chondrocyte implantation", "Microfracture" and "Pain". Therefore, more and more efforts will be put into mechanism research on subchondral bone, which may inspire new clinical treatments for osteoarthritis and other related diseases based on subchondral bone.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000020406
  15. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 May 29. 99(22): e20137
       OBJECTIVES: The infectious pneumonia caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, from December 2019 and spread the whole country and even other 24 countries. Coronavirus research is of significance to overcome the epidemic. Our study aims to investigate the global status and trends of coronavirus research.
    METHOD: Publications related to the studies of coronavirus research from January 1, 2003 to February 6, 2020 were retrieved from the Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCI-E) of the Web of Science database. A total of 9294 publications were included. The data source was studied and indexed by bibliometric methodology. For visualized study, bibliographic coupling analysis, co-authorship analysis, co-citation analysis, co-occurrence analysis and the analysis of publication trends in coronavirus research were conducted by VOS (visualization of similarities) viewer and GraphPadPrism 6 software.
    RESULTS: The number of publications about coronavirus research increased sharply in 2004 for SARS outbreak and increased again in 2012 for MERS outbreak. The USA made the highest contributions to the global research with the most total number of publications, total citation frequency, and the highest H-index, while Netherlands had the highest average citation per item. Journal of Virology had the largest publication numbers. The University of Hong Kong is the most contributive institution with the most publications. The main research orientation and funding agency were virology and United States Department of Health Human Services. Keywords of all related studies could be divided into 4 clusters: "Pathological research," "Epidemiology research," "Clinical research," and "Mechanism research."
    CONCLUSIONS: The outbreak of the epidemic could promote coronavirus research, meanwhile, coronavirus research contributes to overcoming the epidemic. Attention should be drawn to the latest popular research, including "Spike protein," "Receptor binding domain," and "Vaccine." Therefore, more and more efforts will be put into mechanism research and vaccine research and development, which can be helpful to deal with the epidemic.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000020137
  16. Health Res Policy Syst. 2020 Jun 05. 18(1): 59
       BACKGROUND: Scientific journals play a critical role in research validation and dissemination and are increasingly vocal about the identification of research priorities and the targeting of research results to key audiences. No new journals specialising in health policy and systems research (HPSR) and focusing in the developing world or in a specific developing world region have been established since the early 1980s. This paper compares the growth of publications on HPSR across Latin America and the world and explores the potential, feasibility and challenges of innovative publication strategies.
    METHODS: A bibliometric analysis was undertaken using HPSR MeSH terms with journals indexed in Medline. A survey was undertaken among 2500 authors publishing on HPSR in Latin America (LA) through an online survey, with a 13.1% response rate. Aggregate indicators were constructed and validated, and two-way ANOVA tests were performed on key variables.
    RESULTS: HPSR publications on LA observed an average annual growth of 27.5% from the years 2000 to 2018, as against 11.4% worldwide and yet a lag on papers published per capita. A total of 48 journals with an Impact Factor publish HPSR on LA, of which 5 non-specialised journals are published in the region and are ranked in the bottom quintile of Impact Factor. While the majority of HPSR papers worldwide is published in specialised HPSR journals, in LA this is the minority. Very few researchers from LA sit in the Editorial Board of international journals. Researchers highly support strengthening quality HPSR publications through publishing in open access, on-line journals with a focus on the LA region and with peer reviewers specialized on the region. Researchers would support a new open access journal specializing in the LA region and in HPSR, publishing in English. Open access up-front costs and disincentives while waiting for an Impact Factor can be overcome.
    CONCLUSION: Researchers publishing on HPSR in LA widely support the launching of a new specialised journal for the region with a vigorous editorial policy focusing on regional and country priorities. Strategies should be in place to support English-language publishing and to develop a community of practice around the publication process. In the first years, special issues should be promoted through a priority-setting process to attract prominent authors, develop the audience and attain an Impact Factor.
    Keywords:  Health policy and systems research; Health research capacity strengthening; Latin America; Scientometrics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-020-00565-1
  17. J Surg Res. 2020 May 29. pii: S0022-4804(20)30257-2. [Epub ahead of print]254 242-246
       BACKGROUND: Academic journals have adopted strict authorship guidelines to eliminate the addition of authors who have not met criteria, also known as "courtesy authors." We sought to analyze current perceptions, practices, and academic rank-related variations in courtesy authorship use among modern surgical journals.
    METHODS: Authors who published original research articles in 2014-2015 in eight surgical journals were surveyed and categorized as junior (JF) or senior faculty (SF) by years in practice. Responses regarding courtesy authorship perceptions and practices were analyzed. Subanalyses were performed based on journal impact factor.
    RESULTS: A total of 455 authors responded (34% JF versus 66% SF). SF were older (52 versus 39 y) and more predominantly male (80% versus 61%) versus JF. JF more frequently added a courtesy author to the index publication versus SF (23% versus 13%, P = 0.02), but had similar historical rates of adding courtesy authors (58% versus 51%, P = not significant) or being added as a courtesy author (29% versus 37%, P = not significant). JF felt courtesy authorship was more common in their practice and felt more pressure by superiors to add courtesy authors. Perceptions regarding the practice of courtesy authorship differed significantly, with 70% of JF feeling courtesy authorship use has not declined versus 45% of SF (P < 0.05). Both JF and SF cited courtesy authorship positives, including avoiding author conflicts (17% versus 33%, respectively) and increasing morale (25% versus 45%, respectively).
    CONCLUSIONS: Courtesy authorship use continues to be common among both JF and SF. However, perceptions about the benefits, harms, and pressures vary significantly by academic rank and with journal impact factor.
    Keywords:  Academic surgery; Courtesy author; Impact factor; Surgical authorship
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2020.04.034
  18. Gastroenterol Nurs. 2020 May/Jun;43(3):43(3): 232-240
      The aims and objectives of this study were to (1) analyze the bibliometric characteristics of articles on Web of Science from 1986 to the present using literature mining and information visualization technologies developed by CiteSpace software, (2) reflect the current situation in this field as far as possible, and (3) provide evidence for improving research on nursing and clinical liver cirrhosis in Mainland China. No bibliometric analysis exists on Web of Science regarding cirrhosis nursing research. The status of current research, including hotspots and trends, has been assessed in this study through a bibliometric analysis. Literature related to cirrhosis and nursing was identified via Web of Science. Data were then analyzed using CiteSpace software. From 1986 to 2018, a total of 179 articles were published in 109 journals by 830 researchers in 36 countries/regions. The terms "cirrhosis," "management," and "quality of life" emerged most frequently and indicated the hotspots in liver cirrhosis nursing literature. Among all countries/regions, the United States contributed the most research overall; Asia also played an important role in the field of liver cirrhosis nursing research. The journal Gastroenterology Nursing published the greatest number of articles. Liver cirrhosis nursing research has attracted increasing amounts of attention around the world, although it remains less robust than other fields. Cirrhosis nursing research is still in its infancy in Mainland China, and there is an urgent need for additional support from government or research institutions to improve this research focus and promote international acceptance of the research outcomes.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/SGA.0000000000000457
  19. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2020 May 22. pii: S1551-7411(20)30178-9. [Epub ahead of print]
       BACKGROUND: Although international collaborative research has demonstrated a series of benefits in different scientific disciplines, there is no information regarding international collaborative practices in pharmacy practice research.
    OBJECTIVES: To map international collaborations published in pharmacy practice research journals between 2009 and 2018.
    METHODS: A set of pharmacy practice journals was objectively selected from a previously published mapping of pharmacy journals. The 25 journals that were more representative of the pharmacy practice category with higher class 5 chi-square in a descending hierarchical classification were selected. Non-reviewed journals, and those not published during the selected period, were excluded. Articles published between 2009 and 2018 were imported from Scopus. Only papers classified as "Articles" or "Reviews" were analyzed. The countries of the authors' affiliations were identified. International collaboration was defined as articles with two or more countries in the affiliations.
    RESULTS: The 19 journals analyzed published 22,738 papers, with 16,107 classified as Articles or Reviews. Differences in the international collaboration between journals existed. While a total of 13,214 papers were amenable to be authored in collaboration (2 or more authors, with affiliations recorded), only 1670 (12.6%) were published under international collaboration. A very slight positive trend in the international collaboration rate was found. No correlation existed between the Human Development Index, a composite index incorporating statistical measures of a country's average achievements in health, knowledge and a decent standard of living, and international collaboration.
    CONCLUSIONS: Low rates of international collaboration were found in pharmacy practice research articles, although a slightly positive trend was identified. There was an overall association between collaboration and citations received, but no correlation with country development was found.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric; International collaboration; Pharmacy
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2020.05.019
  20. Med Sci Monit. 2020 Jun 04. 26 e922517
      BACKGROUND Pediatric liver transplantation is used to treat children with end-stage liver disease. This study explored the research hotspots and bibliometric characteristics of pediatric liver transplantation through a variety of bibliometric analysis software. We conducted hotspot analysis to help determine important directions for future scientific research. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study samples were articles related to pediatric liver transplantation published in PubMed in the past 5 years. The high-frequency keywords are extracted by BICOMB software, and then a binary matrix and a common word matrix were constructed. Gcluto software was used to perform double-clustering and visual analysis on high-frequency words, and then we obtained hot area classification. Strategic coordinates are constructed using Excel. Citespace and VOSviewer software are used for further analysis and bibliometric data visualization. RESULTS A total of 36 high-frequency words were found in the 4118 studies. A peak map was drawn through double-cluster analysis. Biclustering analysis was used to calculate the concentricity and density of each hotspot. We obtained the top 10 countries/regions engaged in pediatric liver transplantation research. VOSviewer was used to visualize the co-author map. CONCLUSIONS We found 5 clusters and 7 aspects for pediatric liver transplantation. Additionally, calculation results showed that post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder in pediatric patients and outcomes of multivisceral transplantation seem very promising. This conclusion is of great value for future exploratory research.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.12659/MSM.922517
  21. Wideochir Inne Tech Maloinwazyjne. 2020 Jun;15(2): 249-267
       Introduction: Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) is one of the most popular bariatric operations and one of the most frequently studied areas in bariatric surgery.
    Aim: To summarise the characteristics of the most frequently cited studies focusing on SG.
    Material and methods: We used the Web of Science database to identify all studies focused on SG published from 2000 to 2018. The term "sleeve gastrectomy" and synonyms were used to reveal the 100 most cited records.
    Results: The most frequently cited publication had 493 citations. The highest mean number of citations per year was 73.00. Studies were most frequently published in the years 2010 and 2012. Articles were most commonly published in bariatric surgery-oriented journals.
    Conclusions: Our study indicates an increase in medical researchers' interest in the subject of SG and underlines the need to perform studies with a higher level of evidence to further analyse the outcomes and basic science behind SG.
    Keywords:  bariatric surgery; bibliometrics; obesity; sleeve gastrectomy
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.5114/wiitm.2019.89392
  22. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 May 29. 99(22): e20378
       BACKGROUND: Coronaviruses have drawn attention since the beginning of the 21st century. Over the past 17 years, coronaviruses have triggered several outbreaks of epidemic in people, which brought great threats to global public health security. We analyzed the publications on coronavirus with bibliometrics software and qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated the knowledge base and hot topics of coronavirus research from 2003 to 2020.
    METHODS: We explored the publications on coronavirus in the Web of Science core collection (WOSCC) from 2003 to 2020. Bibliometric analysis, evaluating knowledge base, and research hotspots were performed based on CiteSpace V (Drexel University, Chaomei Chen).
    RESULTS: There were a total of 8433 publications of coronavirus. The research on coronavirus boomed when a novel coronavirus triggered outbreaks in people. The leading country was the United States, and the leading institution was the University of Hong Kong. The most productive researchers were: Yuen KY, Drosten C, Baric RS. The keywords analysis showed that SARS-CoV, infection, acute respiratory syndrome, antibody, receptor, and spike protein were research hotspots. The research categories analysis showed that virology, microbiology, veterinary sciences, infectious diseases, and biochemistry and molecular biology were hot research categories.
    CONCLUSIONS: Bibliometric analysis of the literature shows the research on coronavirus boomed when a novel coronavirus triggered outbreaks in people. With the end of the epidemic, the research tended to be cooling. Virus identification, pathogenesis, and coronavirus-mediated diseases attracted much attention. We must continue studying the viruses after an outbreak ended.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000020378
  23. J Immigr Minor Health. 2020 Jun 02.
      Elder abuse is an emerging worldwide public health, human right, and social priority for governments and health policy makers. The aim of the current study was to provide an in-depth quantitative analysis of literature on elder abuse published in academic journals. A bibliometric method was implemented using Scopus database for the study period from 1950 to 2017. The search strategy utilized specific keywords to retrieve relevant documents. One thousand eight hundred seventy-two documents appeared in Scopus when using the search strategy. The annual number of publications showed a fluctuating pattern in the past four decades. Publications on elder abuse originated mainly from Northern America and Western Europe. International research collaboration on elder abuse was relatively low. The mean number of authors per document was 1.4. The Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect published almost one third of the retrieved documents. The Rush University was the most active institution and Professor Dong, X.Q. was the most active author in this field. The most frequently encountered keywords were risk factors, prevalence, intervention, prevention, dementia, and nursing homes. Physical abuse was the most common type of elder abuse studied followed by psychological and financial abuse. Elder abuse is under-researched and of limited priority in most world regions. Governments need to take into consideration preventive policies of elder abuse based on research findings.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric analysis; Elder abuse; Research activity; Visualization maps
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-020-01034-1
  24. J Burn Care Res. 2020 Jun 01. pii: iraa083. [Epub ahead of print]
       BACKGROUND: Although many reviews describe significant advances in burn care, no studies have yet examined why these papers had such profound impact. Our objective was to identify the most highly-cited, as well has the most clinically influential studies in burns, and describe their characteristics, to inform future research in the field.
    METHODS: Web of Science was searched using keywords related to burns to identify the 100 most-cited burns papers. Study design, year and journal of publication, and subject of the paper were recorded. A mixed-methods approach was used to identify papers in burn research leading to change in clinical practice. Characteristics of these papers were compared to identify any factors predictive of future citations or clinical influence.
    RESULTS: The 100 highly-cited papers were cited between 159-907 times. There was no correlation between total citations and journal impact factor, year of publication, or subject area. Level of evidence did not predict future citations or influence, but may be influenced by evolving research standards. Of 23 clinically influential studies, 6 were not among 100 most-cited. Using papers only from the 100 most-cited list was not sufficient to identify leading researchers in burns.
    CONCLUSIONS: Citation analysis is a beneficial, however not alone sufficient to identify landmark papers, particularly for multi-disciplinary fields such as burns.
    Keywords:  bibliometrics; citations; mortality; review
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/jbcr/iraa083
  25. Pharmacopsychiatry. 2020 Jun 02.
       INTRODUCTION: A substantial rate of quotation errors has been reported in medical journal publications: about 25% of all quotations are wrong. It is, however, entirely unclear how important quotation errors are for the message of quoting articles.
    METHODS: This is a case study in form of a retrospective quotation analysis of a cohort of 72 psychiatric original articles (index articles) from 5 German-language general psychiatric journals. Main outcomes were importance and accuracy of quotations from the 2 calendar years following the publication of index articles.
    RESULTS: Fifty-one index articles were quoted 235 times in 109 quoting articles. Almost all quotations were of medium (76% [95% CI: 70%; 81%]) or high (20% [15%, 25%]) importance for the message of the quoting paper. Regarding quotation accuracy, 44 quotations (19% [14%; 24%]) were rated as minor, and 51 (22% [17%; 27%]) as major errors. In multivariable analyses, no statistically significant and practically relevant factors associated with quotation inaccuracy emerged, such as self-quotation, impact factor of the quoting journal, or importance. Among quoting articles, 7 (6% [3%; 13%]) showed a pattern of predominantly quoting index articles from the time span relevant to the calculation of the impact factor.
    DISCUSSION: Quotations are important for the message of the quoting paper. Therefore, quotation errors may be detrimental to scientific reasoning and may undermine public trust in medical science. The present investigation is a case study, and its results are exploratory. While it is plausible that the findings translate into other environments, independent replication is needed.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1167-3567
  26. J Relig Health. 2020 Jun 05.
      Taoism and Confucianism both exited simultaneously as philosophies of living in dynastic China. Although there has been an increasing popularity in scientometric studies, religion and health (R&H) literature lacks a holistic evaluation investigating articles relevant to Taoism and Confucianism. All publications produced in Taoism and Confucianism literature and indexed in Web of Science (WoS) databases between 1975 and 2018 were included in this study. Database search on health and Taoism literature retrieved 199 documents from WoS databases. Main research areas were Psychology, Religion and Behavioral Sciences (24.121, 21.608 and 20.603, respectively). The USA ranked first with 38 papers followed China, Taiwan and the UK (n = 35, 20 and 6 documents, respectively). Hong Kong Polytechnic University from China was the most contributor institution in health and Taoism literature. A total of 448 documents were published in health and Confucianism literature between 1975 and 2018, and original articles covered 93.08% of all literature. China was leading country with 126 articles followed by the USA, South Korea and Taiwan (n = 97, 35 and 35 items, respectively). The most productive institutions were City University of Hong Kong (China), Karolinska Institute (Sweden) and University of Hong Kong (China). Researchers from developing and least developed countries should be encouraged to carry out novel scientometric studies in R&H literature.
    Keywords:  Bibliometrics; Confucianism; Health; Publication trend; Scientometrics; Taoism
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-020-01043-2
  27. Ann Intensive Care. 2020 Jun 01. 10(1): 70
      
    Keywords:  Continuing medical education; Intensive Care; Journal Club; Medical Journal; Practice-changing article
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13613-020-00688-2
  28. Account Res. 2020 Jun 04. 1-25
      Over the past several years, there has been a significant increase in the number of scientific articles with two or more authors claiming "Equal Co-First Authorship" (ECFA). This study provides a critical background to ECFA designations, discusses likely causes of its increased use, and explores arguments for and against the practice. Subsequently, it presents the results of a qualitative study that sought the opinion of 19 authors listed among equal first authors of recent publications in leading scientific journals about ECFA designations. Results show that circumstances leading to ECFA designations vary significantly from each other. While the development of policies for these situations would not be easy, participants suggested that the lack of clear and consistent policies regarding the attribution and evaluation of ECFA contributes to tensions amongst ECFA authors and obscures their preferred attributions of credit.
    Keywords:  Authorship; Equal Co-First Authorship; equal contributions; ethics; publications
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/08989621.2020.1776122
  29. Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi. 2020 May;45(10): 2239-2248
      To analyze the development of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19), this study systematically retrieved relevant Chinese and English literatures from both CNKI and Web of Science database platforms by bibliometric research method and CiteSpace 5.5.R2 software to obtain information and visualize relevant literatures. A total of 695 Chinese and 446 English literatures were included in this paper. Statistics showed that China had published most of the literatures and established close cooperation with the United States and the United Kingdom. Through the analysis, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology and its affiliated hospitals published the largest number of the publications. Moreover, the highly productive journals including Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine and The Lancet covered eight major fields, such as medicine, medical virology, radiation medicine, infectious disease, and traditional Chinese medicine. Besides, a total of 35 special COVID-19 funds were recently established to subsidize these studies. The key words and themes analysis indicated that protein structure of COVID-19, receptor targets and mechanisms of action, integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine, screening and development of antiviral drugs from traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, vaccine research as well as epidemiological characteristics and prediction are current study hotspots. This study provides a reference for researchers to rapidly master main study directions of COVID-19 and screen out relevant literatures.
    Keywords:  2019-nCoV; COVID-19; CiteSpace; bibliometrics; visual analysis
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.19540/j.cnki.cjcmm.20200320.501
  30. Blood Cells Mol Dis. 2020 May 23. pii: S1079-9796(20)30227-8. [Epub ahead of print]84 102454
      The authorship of articles in biomedical journals has proliferated despite efforts of publishers and editors to require justification of authorship. A proposal is made, herein, to resolve that matter by applying the "one paper: one citation" concept, so as to adhere to the thermodynamic principle of conservation of mass. This proposal provides (i) a means to allow authors to agree on their relative contribution, (ii) an incentive to assign only significant contributors to authorship, and (iii) the appropriate fractional contribution of each author when there are multiple authors. As a result, the sum of citations for any one paper shall be one paper. I believe this proposal the only method suggested, thus far, to make authorship of a biomedical paper authentic.
    Keywords:  Attribution; Authorship; Biomedical article; Citation; Citation index
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcmd.2020.102454
  31. BMJ Evid Based Med. 2020 Jun 03. pii: bmjebm-2019-111326. [Epub ahead of print]
      Systematic reviews (SRs) have been reported with increasing frequency as a means of collating studies which may have been performed over different period of times, in different geographical areas and by different groups of investigators. As SRs have become more common, quality metrics such as Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) have become available for these reviews. AMSTAR is an 11-point checklist that assesses the methodological and reporting quality of a SR. In clinical practice, direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have been increasingly used for the treatment and prevention of both venous and arterial thromboembolism. We sought to evaluate the quality of SRs published on DOACs using the AMSTAR criteria. A comprehensive search of Medline, EMBASE and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from January 2013 to February 2019 was performed. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts and subsequently full texts for eligibility. Data extraction was also completed in duplicate. Categories of extracted data included AMSTAR rating, journal of publication, year of publication, number of studies included in the SR, reporting adherence to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, number of times the paper was cited and journal impact factor. A total of 3729 articles were identified, of which 250 were eligible for analysis. SR quality was highly variable with mean (SD) AMSTAR score of 5.68/11 (2.21). Reporting adherence to PRISMA guideline correlated with a moderate (5-8) or high quality (9-11) (OR=4.19, p<0.01) AMSTAR score. The methodological quality of DOACs was generally rated to be low-moderate, and improved adherence to AMSTAR methodological practices are strongly recommended.
    Keywords:  cardiology; internal medicine; protocols & guidelines
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjebm-2019-111326
  32. Cureus. 2020 May 01. 12(5): e7917
      Introduction Gender disparity in academic and organizational settings has been the topic of numerous studies, which have attributed under representation of females within medicine to both individual and institutional reasons. The main objective of our study was to assess gender disparity in leadership positions in committees of professional societies of family medicine (FM). Methods In this cross-sectional observational study, we collected publicly available information from 3 major FM societies (College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, and the World Organization of Family Doctors) and also collected the academic/leadership information for each committee member, including bibliometric parameters of their research productivity. Results In total, our sample size was 960 and composed of 58% men (556) and 42% women (404). There was a significant difference found in all the research productivity variables. Men had a greater number of publications, number of citations, years since first publication, years of active research, and had a larger h-index. Conclusion In conclusion, gender disparity within FM societies is less significant compared to other professional medical societies and creating an environment that supports women and supports research can aid in achieving gender parity.
    Keywords:  family medicine; gender disparity; primary care; women in family medicine
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.7917
  33. Acad Med. 2020 Jun 02.
       PURPOSE: Despite a demographic surge in U.S. minority children, pediatric workforce diversity has failed to keep pace. The study aim was to evaluate the Research in Academic Pediatrics Initiative on Diversity (RAPID), a research-education program aimed at recruiting, retaining, and professionally advancing diverse early-career faculty in general pediatrics who are pursuing research careers.
    METHOD: RAPID includes the following components: small research grants, mentoring by nationally renowned senior investigators, mentoring and networking at an annual breakfast, an annual career-development conference, and monthly mentoring conference calls. Outcomes data from the first 5 years (2012-2017) of RAPID were analyzed. Data sources were Academic Pediatric Association (APA) membership data and post-conference, baseline, and end-of-program/follow-up surveys. Outcome measures included mentoring quality, presentations, publications, subsequent grants, impact on career success, conference ratings, and APA membership diversity.
    RESULTS: For the 10 scholars from the first 4 cohorts, mean scores were 4.5 (5 = strongly agree) for RAPID fostering mentoring, developing research skills, and helping scholars feel more comfortable as underrepresented minority (URM) faculty; 78% delivered platform or poster presentations on their project. They published 56 total articles and received a mean of 2.5 subsequent grants. Their mean score for RAPID "advancing my career by facilitating promotion or getting a job" was 4.6. The first 4 RAPID Conferences were highly rated (mean scores = 4.2-4.8) and brought in 33 additional URM young investigators. Pre-RAPID, URM APA membership stagnated at 6%-7% for 5 years. In RAPID's first year, URM APA membership rose to 8%, then to 10% by 2017 (43% increase; P < .001).
    CONCLUSIONS: RAPID Scholars generated multiple presentations and publications. RAPID mentoring and conferences were highly rated. RAPID was associated with career advancement and increased professional society diversity. RAPID could serve as a national model for enhancing URM career development and professional society diversity.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000003531
  34. Trials. 2020 Jun 05. 21(1): 486
       INTRODUCTION: An impactful clinical trial will have real-life benefits for patients and society beyond the academic environment. This study analyses case studies of cancer trials to understand how impact is evidenced for cancer trials and how impact evaluation can be more routinely adopted and improved.
    METHODS: The United Kingdom (UK) Government allocates research funding to higher-education institutions based on an assessment of the institutions' previous research efforts, in an exercise known as the Research Excellence Framework (REF). In addition to each institution's journal publications and research environment, for the first time in 2014, allocation of funding was also dependent on an evaluation of the wider, societal impact of research conducted. In the REF2014, impact assessment was performed by evaluation of impact case studies. In this study, case studies (n = 6637) submitted by institutions for the REF2014 were accessed and those focussing on cancer trials were identified. Manual content analysis was then used to assess the characteristics of the cancer trials discussed in the case studies, the impact described and the methods used by institutions to demonstrate impact.
    RESULTS: Forty-six case studies describing 106 individual cancer trials were identified. The majority were phase III randomised controlled trials and those recruiting patients with breast cancer. A list of indicators of cancer trial impact was generated using the previous literature and developed inductively using these case studies. The most common impact from a cancer trial identified in the case studies was on policy, in particular citation of trial findings in clinical guidelines. Impact on health outcomes and the economy were less frequent and health outcomes were often predicted rather than evidenced. There were few descriptions identified of trialists making efforts to maximise trial impact.
    DISCUSSION: Cancer trial impact narratives for the next REF assessment exercise in 2021 can be improved by evidencing actual rather than predicted Impact, with a clearer identification of the beneficiaries of cancer trials and the processes through which trial results are used. Clarification of the individuals responsible for performing impact evaluations of cancer trials and the provision of resources to do so needs to be addressed if impact evaluation is to be sustainable.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-020-04425-9
  35. Rev Esp Enferm Dig. 2020 Jun 04. 112 425
      The complexity and research publications have expanded exponentially.The role of authors and collaborators need to be clarified according with the standards of the International Committee of medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). New projects as Contributor Role Taxonomy (CRediT), has been launched in order to provide credit and transparency to the authors, readers and evaluation agencies.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.17235/reed.2020.7251/2020
  36. PLoS One. 2020 ;15(6): e0233367
      Total NIH funding dollars have increased from 2009-2018. We questioned whether this growth has occurred proportionately around the country and throughout allopathic medical schools. Therefore, we compared the trend in NIH grant funding from 2009 to 2018 for United States allopathic medical schools among historically top-funded schools, private and public schools, and by region of the country. Changes in both unadjusted and real funding dollars over time revealed a significant difference. Region was the only significant factor for mean percent change in funding from 2009-2018, with the Western region showing a 33.79% increase in purchasing power. The Northeastern region showed a -6.64% decrease in purchasing power while the Central and Southern regions reported changes of 2.46% and -6.08%, respectively. The mean percent increases were more proportional and nonsignificant in the public vs. private institutions comparison, at -3.41% and 4.75%, respectively. Likewise, the top-funded institutions vs. other institutions comparisons demonstrated modest, nonsignificant differences. However, although the relative changes might be proportional, the absolute increases evidence a pattern of growing cumulative advantage that favor the highest-funded institutions and private institutions. The potential consequences of this disproportionate increase include health science education, biomedical research, and patient access disparities in large parts of the country. The NIH and the scientific community should explore potential solutions in its funding models.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233367
  37. Ther Innov Regul Sci. 2020 Jun 05.
       INTRODUCTION: Paediatric non-commercial interventional clinical trials (NICTs) are crucial for healthcare provision. In spite of the fact that current regulations and initiatives try to enhance the quantity and quality of paediatric NICTs, there are still shortcomings that need to be addressed in order to accelerate the conduct of relevant clinical trials in children. To improve the current landscape of paediatric clinical research, it is necessary to identify and analyse the main trends and shortcomings, along with their impact on national performance in paediatric NICTs and this is the aim of this work.
    METHOD: A retrospective systematic search of paediatric NICTs was performed on four international clinical trials registries. Entries were filtered by date from 01/01/2004 to 31/12/2017. Each identified paediatric NICT was screened and analysed for sponsors, funders, type of intervention, therapeutic area, design characteristics and associated publications.
    RESULTS: The search identified 439 unique NICTs. When stratifying the trials by enrolment ages, 86 trials were found involving the paediatric population. Most trials investigated the use of medicinal products and were focused on cancer or cardiovascular diseases. The most common sources of the funding were non-profit organizations. Furthermore, from the total number of completed trials, only half of them already published their results.
    CONCLUSION: The main shortcomings-specifically, ethical, methodological and, in particular, economic obstacles were identified. There is a continual need for greater support and collaboration between all major stakeholders including health policymakers, grant agencies, research institutions, pharmaceutical industries and healthcare providers at the national and international level.
    Keywords:  Financial sources; Infrastructure; International Clinical Trials Registries; Non-commercial Clinical Trials; Paediatric clinical research
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s43441-020-00173-9