bims-evares Biomed News
on Evaluation of research
Issue of 2020‒12‒20
twenty-five papers selected by
Thomas Krichel
Open Library Society
  1. Research hotspots and trends analysis of ankylosing spondylitis: a bibliometric and scientometric analysis from 2009 to 2018.
  2. Ophthalmology Research Trends in Saudi Arabia: A Four-Decade Bibliometric Analysis.
  3. The Trends of Single-Cell Analysis: A Global Study.
  4. The 100 Top-Cited Studies on Neuropsychology: A Bibliometric Analysis.
  5. Research trends and performances of breast reconstruction: a bibliometric analysis.
  6. Publication Trends of Pediatric and Adult Randomized Controlled Trials in General Medical Journals, 2005-2018: A Citation Analysis.
  7. The 100 most-cited papers in oral medicine and pathology.
  8. Natural products, the continuous source of therapeutic molecules for various diseases: literature landscape analysis.
  9. Characteristics and Trends of the Most Cited Spine Publications.
  10. The top 100 most-cited papers in long non-coding RNAs: a bibliometric study.
  11. Majority of Most Cited Articles in Top Plastic Surgery Journals do not Receive Funding.
  12. Gender-Based Disparity in Academic Ranking and Research Productivity Among Canadian Anesthesiology Faculty.
  13. Publication trends of research on uveal melanoma during 2000-2020: a 20-year bibliometric study.
  14. Documentary Analysis of the Scientific Literature on Autism and Technology in Web of Science.
  15. Performance of Chinese medical postgraduate students in literature searching: a two-center survey and analysis.
  16. Peer review analysis in the field of radiation oncology: results from a web-based survey of the Young DEGRO working group.
  17. News and social media coverage is associated with more downloads and citations of manuscripts that focus on substance use.
  18. Evaluation of Factors Associated with Successful Matriculation to Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship.
  19. Recent trends on omics and bioinformatics approaches to study SARS-CoV-2: A bibliometric analysis and mini-review.
  20. A communication strategy based on Twitter improves article citation rate and impact factor of medical journals.
  21. Bibliometric Analysis of the100 Highly-cited Articles about COVID-19.
  22. Fate of Abstracts Presented at the Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Scientific Meetings.
  23. Review of research output of Australian and New Zealand colorectal surgeons over the past 20 years.
  24. [Time trends in doctorates and academic career perspectives among Dutch medical doctors: a nationwide cohort study].
  25. Making it to the PhD: Gender and student performance in sub-Saharan Africa.
  1. Ann Transl Med. 2020 Nov;8(21): 1445
    Research hotspots and trends analysis of ankylosing spondylitis: a bibliometric and scientometric analysis from 2009 to 2018.
    Miaomiao Liang, Yan Meng, Siming Zhou, Zhengbo Tao, Lin Tao.
      Background: This study utilized bibliometric analysis to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze hotspots and predict trends in the field of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) research.Methods: Articles about AS were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection and PubMed database, and bibliometric analysis was carried out through CiteSpace and the Online Analysis Platform of Literature Metrology and Bibliographic Item Co-Occurrence Matrix Builder (BICOMB). Then, co-word biclustering analysis was conducted to obtain research hotspots and predict trends using gCLUTO software.
    Results: A total of 6,818 articles on AS from 2009 to 2018 were analyzed, showing an increasing publication trend (558 articles in 2009 to 851 articles in 2018). The Journal of Rheumatology was the leading journal in AS research, with an impact factor (IF) of 3.634 and H-index value of 49. In terms of region, the United States led the world in this field, and The University of Toronto was the leading institution for AS research. Van Der Heijde, D was the most prolific author in the field. Eight research hotspots in the field of AS were also identified.
    Conclusions: Our analysis identified eight research hotspots, and predicted that surgical treatment and etiology will be the main AS research trends in the future. This study provides new directions and ideas for future research in AS.
    Keywords:  Ankylosing spondylitis (AS); bibliometric analysis; biclustering; co-word analysis; hotspots
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-1259
  2. Cureus. 2020 Nov 13. 12(11): e11465
    Ophthalmology Research Trends in Saudi Arabia: A Four-Decade Bibliometric Analysis.
    Saeed Alshahrani, Adi Mohammed Al Owaifeer.
      Background Clinical research output by a country could reflect its advancement in medical education and quality of patient care. This study aims to assess the contribution of Saudi research in the field of ophthalmology. Methods This retrospective cross-sectional bibliometric analysis was performed in March 2020 to assess the contribution of Saudi research in the field of ophthalmology. Web of science (WoS) advanced search engine was used. All Saudi-affiliated publications from 1980 till 2019 were included. A qualitative assessment included the total number of publications, citations, citing articles, journal titles, and affiliated institutions. Quality of publications was evaluated by H-index. A comparative quantitative analysis of Arabian and some selected countries worldwide was performed. Publication productivity was adjusted to each country by population size. Results In the period of 1980-2019, Saudi Arabia published 2178 articles in ophthalmology. The number of publications (Spearman's correlation Coefficient = 0.94; P < .001) and sum of citations (Spearman's correlation Coefficient = 0.99; P < .001) increased significantly over the past 40 years. The highest notable increase was detected in the period for 2010-2019. H-index was 58 with an average citation of 10.79 per article. The sum of citations was 23,507 while 18,460 articles were cited by Saudi publications. When compared to other countries, Saudi Arabia ranks the highest among Arab countries and the second most productive in Asia following Japan. Conclusion Despite the continuous improvement in the trends of ophthalmology research in Saudi Arabia, further effort is needed to strengthen the publications output and achieve a considerable international status.
    Keywords:  bibliometric analysis; bibliometrics; ophthalmology; research publications
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.11465
  3. Biomed Res Int. 2020 ;2020 7425397
    The Trends of Single-Cell Analysis: A Global Study.
    Hua Tian, Haifeng Liu, Yuanyuan Zhu, Dan Xing, Bin Wang.
      Objective: The field of single-cell analysis has rapidly grown worldwide, and a bibliometric analysis and visualization of data and publications pertaining to such single-cell research has the potential to offer insights into the development of this field over the past two decades while also highlighting future avenues of research.Methods: Single-cell analysis-related studies published from 2000-2019 were identified through searches of the Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed databases, and corresponding bibliometric data were systematically compiled. Extracted data from each study included author names, country of origin, and affiliations. GraphPad Prism was used to analyze these data, while VOSviewer was used to perform global analyses of bibliographic coupling, coauthorship, cocitation, and co-occurrence.
    Results: In total, 4,071 relevant studies were included in this analysis. The number of publications increased substantially with time, suggesting that single-cell analyses are becoming increasingly more prevalent in recent years. Studies from the USA had the greatest impact in this field, with higher H-index values and numbers of citations relative to other countries, whereas Israel exhibited the highest average number of citations per publication. Bibliographic coupling, coauthorship, cocitation, and co-occurrence analyses revealed that Analytical Chemistry was associated with the highest number of publications in this field, and the University of Stanford contributed the most to this field. The most cited study included in this analysis was published by Macosko et al. in 2015 in Cell. Co-occurrence analyses revealed that the most common single-cell research topics included "mechanistic studies," "in vitro studies," "in vivo studies," and "fabrication studies."
    Conclusions: Single-cell analyses are a rapidly growing area of scientific interest, and higher volumes of publications in this field are expected in the coming years, particularly for studies conducting fabrication and in vivo single-cell analyses.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/7425397
  4. Front Psychol. 2020 ;11 550716
    The 100 Top-Cited Studies on Neuropsychology: A Bibliometric Analysis.
    Yang Zhang, Ying Xiong, Yujia Cai, Linli Zheng, Yonggang Zhang.
      Objective: The present study aimed to identify and analyze the bibliometric characteristics of the 100 top-cited studies on neuropsychology.Methods: We searched the Web of Science Core Collection database to collect studies on neuropsychology from inception to 31st December 2019. Two authors independently screened the literature and extracted the data. Statistical analyses were performed using R software.
    Results: The 100 top-cited articles were cited a total of 166,123 times, ranging from 736 to 24,252 times per article. All of the studies were published from 1967 to 2014 in 47 journals. Neuropsychologia had the highest number of articles (n = 17), followed by Neurology (n = 8). The top three most productive countries were the USA (n = 60), England (n = 13), and Canada (n = 8). Eight authors contributed the same number of studies as the first author (n = 2) or corresponding author (n = 2). The most productive institute was the University of California (n = 9), followed by the University of Pennsylvania (n = 4). Of the 100 top-cited publications, 64 were original articles, and 36 were reviews. The top three Web of Science categories were clinical neurology (n = 28), behavioral sciences (n = 19), and psychiatry (n = 11).
    Conclusion: This study provides insight into the impact of neuropsychology research and may help doctors, researchers, and stakeholders to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of trends and most influential contributions to the field, thus promoting ideas for future investigation.
    Keywords:  bibliometric analysis; citation; citation analysis; neuropsychology; top-cited
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.550716
  5. Ann Transl Med. 2020 Nov;8(22): 1529
    Research trends and performances of breast reconstruction: a bibliometric analysis.
    Yunzhu Li, Xiaojun Wang, Jørn Bo Thomsen, Maurice Y Nahabedian, Naohiro Ishii, Warren M Rozen, Xiao Long, Yuh-Shan Ho.
      Background: The need for postmastectomy breast reconstruction surgery has increased dramatically, and significant progress has been made both in implant and autologous based breast reconstruction in recent decades. In this paper, we performed a bibliometric analysis with the aim of providing an overview of the developments in breast reconstruction research and insight into the research trends.Methods: We searched the Science Citation Index Expanded database and the Web of Science Core Collection for articles published between 1991 to 2018 in the topic domain, using title, abstract, author keywords, and KeyWords Plus. Four citation indicators TCyear, Cyear, C0 and CPPyear were employed to help analyse the identified articles.
    Results: The number of scientific articles in breast reconstruction in this period steadily increased. It took most articles nearly a decade to hit a plateau in terms of citation counts. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Annals of Plastic Surgery, and Journal of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery published the largest number of articles on breast reconstruction. Nine of the top ten most prolific publications were based in the USA. The research highlights related to breast reconstruction were implant-based breast reconstruction, deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) flap breast reconstruction, and superficial inferior epigastric artery (SIEA) flap breast reconstruction.
    Conclusions: This bibliometric analysis yielded data on citation number, publication outputs, categories, journals, institutions, countries, research highlights and tendencies. It helps to picture the panorama of breast reconstruction research, and guide the future research work.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric citation analysis; Science Citation Index Expanded; Web of Science Core Collection; Y-index
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-3476
  6. Children (Basel). 2020 Dec 15. pii: E293. [Epub ahead of print]7(12):
    Publication Trends of Pediatric and Adult Randomized Controlled Trials in General Medical Journals, 2005-2018: A Citation Analysis.
    Michael L Groff, Martin Offringa, Abby Emdin, Quenby Mahood, Patricia C Parkin, Eyal Cohen.
      Policy has been developed to promote the conduct of high-quality pediatric randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Whether these strategies have influenced publication trends in high-impact journals is unknown. We aim to evaluate characteristics, citation patterns, and publication trends of pediatric RCTs published in general medical journals (GMJs) compared with adult RCTs over a 13-year period. Studies were identified using Medline, and impact metrics were collected from Web of Science and Scopus. All RCTs published from 2005-2018 in 7 GMJs with the highest impact factors were identified for analysis. A random sample of matched pediatric and adult RCTs were assessed for publication characteristics, academic and non-academic citation. Citations were counted from publication until June 2019. Among 4146 RCTs, 2794 (67.3%) enrolled adults, 591 (14.2%) enrolled children, and 761 RCTs (18.3%) enrolled adult and pediatric patients. Adult RCTs published in GMJs grew by 5.1 publications per year (95% CI: 3.3-6.9), while the number of pediatric RCTs did not show significant change (-0.4 RCTs/year, 95% CI: -1.4-0.6). Adult RCTs were cited more than pediatric RCTs (median(IQR): 29.9 (68.5-462.8) citations/year vs. 13.2 (6.8-24.9) citations/year; p < 0.001); however, social media attention was similar (median(IQR) Altmetric Attention Score: 37 (13.75-133.8) vs. 26 (6.2-107.5); p = 0.25). Despite policies which may facilitate conduct of pediatric RCTs, the publishing gap in high-impact GMJs is widening.
    Keywords:  bibliometrics; child; clinical trials; journal impact factor; pediatrics; publication characteristics; publications; publishing; randomized controlled trials; social media
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/children7120293
  7. Braz Oral Res. 2020 ;pii: S1806-83242021000100217. [Epub ahead of print]35 e020
    The 100 most-cited papers in oral medicine and pathology.
    Alison José Martelli, Renato Assis Machado, Daniella Reis Barbosa Martelli, Lucimara Teixeira das Neves, Hercílio Martelli Junior.
      This study aimed to analyze the 100 most-cited papers in the field of oral medicine and pathology over time, identifying the areas of more intense research. Papers in journals of oral medicine and pathology were identified using the Web of Science database. The specified research period was between 1900 and 2019. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. Pearson's correlation analysis was used to explore the relationships among Web of Science citations, Dimensions citations, and Altmetric Attention Score. The number of citations of an article in the top 100 most-cited papers published in 1953 or later ranged from 541 to 3623. The papers were published in 47 different journals. The New England Journal of Medicine, American Cancer Society, and Nature Genetics published the most papers. Authors from 18 different countries published papers on head and neck cancer, craniofacial congenital anomalies, and osteonecrosis. Most of the papers were laboratory and descriptive studies. A correlation analysis showed a strong correlation only between Web of Science and Dimensions citations. In sum, although non-specific journals for pathology and oral medicine published the majority of the 100 most-cited papers, this biometric citation study show that head and neck cancer was the issue with the most citations. Together, these results make an important scientific contribution by providing a historical perspective on the research carried out.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-3107bor-2021.vol35.0020
  8. Curr Mol Pharmacol. 2020 Dec 14.
    Natural products, the continuous source of therapeutic molecules for various diseases: literature landscape analysis.
    Andy Wai Kan Yeung, Andrei Mocan, Nikolay T Tzvetkov, Karel Šmejkal, Elke H Heiss, Atanas G Atanasov.
      BACKGROUND: Substances present in nature have been a continuous source for the development of drugs for cardiovascular and infectious diseases, cancer, and many other diseases. As the literature concerning these natural products grows, it becomes more difficult for a reader to quickly grasp the essential facts and develop a well-informed impression of this field of research. Until now, it has also been difficult to determine which natural products and research objectives were receiving the most attention as measured by number of citations.OBJECTIVE: The current study of all published articles concerned with natural products sought to identify which natural products and which research objectives are connected with the major contributors to scientific journals based on the number of relevant publications and the number of times each publication was cited elsewhere.
    METHODS: Bibliometric data, including citation data, were extracted from the Web of Science database using the search string TS=("natural product*)" and analyzed by the VOSviewer software.
    RESULTS: The search yielded 63,194 articles, with more than half of the manuscripts published since 2012. The ratio of original articles to reviews was 5.8:1. The major contributing countries were the United States, China, Germany, Japan, and India. Articles were published mainly in journals focused on chemistry, pharmacology or biochemistry. Curcumin, resveratrol, and terpenoids were the most frequently cited natural products.
    CONCLUSION: The results of the current study provide researchers from different backgrounds and healthcare professionals with a brief overview of the major trends in natural-product research in the form of a citation-based summary of the relevant literature.
    Keywords:  Bioactive molecules; alkaloids; bibliometrics; citation analysis; natural products; pharmacology. ; polyketides
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.2174/1874467213666201214124327
  9. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2020 Dec 17. Publish Ahead of Print
    Characteristics and Trends of the Most Cited Spine Publications.
    Chester J Donnally, Julian G Lugo-Pico, Kevin J Bondar, Clark J Chen, Johnathon R McCormick, Thomas J Errico.
      STUDY DESIGN: Bibliometric literature review.OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to recognize and analyze the most frequently cited manuscripts published in the journal Spine.
    SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Although the journal Spine is considered a premiere location for distributing influential spine research, no previous study has evaluated which of their publications have had the most impact. Knowledge and appreciation of the most influential Spine publications can guide and inspire future research endeavors.
    METHODS: Using the Scopus database, the 100 most cited articles published in Spine were accessed. The frequency of citations, year of publication, country of origin, level-of-evidence (LOE), article type, and contributing authors/institutions were recorded. The 10 most cited articles (per year) from the past decade were also determined.
    RESULTS: "Guidelines For The Process Of Cross-Cultural Adaptation Of Self-Report Measures" by Beaton DE was the most cited article with 2960 citations. 2000 to 2009 (n = 46) was the most productive period. A LOE of III (n = 35) followed by II (n = 34) were the most common. Deyo RA (n = 8), Bombardier C (n = 6), and Waddell G (n = 6) produced the most articles. University of Washington (n = 8) and University of Toronto (n = 8) ranked first for institutional output. Clinical Outcome (n = 28) was the most recurring article topic. The United States (n = 51) ranked first for country of origin.
    CONCLUSION: Using citation analysis as an objective proxy for influence, certain publications can be distinguished from others due to their lasting impact and recognition from peers. Of the top cited Spine publications, many pertained to clinical outcomes (28%) and had a LOE of I, II, or III (60%). Although older publications have had longer time to accrue citations, those in the most recent decade comprise this list almost 2:1. Knowledge of these "classic" publications allows for a better overall understanding of the diagnosis, management, and future direction of spine health care.Level of Evidence: 3.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/BRS.0000000000003890
  10. Cancer Biol Ther. 2020 Dec 14. 1-15
    The top 100 most-cited papers in long non-coding RNAs: a bibliometric study.
    Meng-Si Peng, Chang-Cheng Chen, Juan Wang, Yi-Li Zheng, Jia-Bao Guo, Ge Song, Xue-Qiang Wang.
      Up to 90% of the human genome is transcribed into Long-noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) that longer than 200 nucleotides but do not code for proteins. LncRNAs play a vital role in a broad range of biological process, it's dysregulations and mutations are linked to the development and progression of various complex human diseases. Given the dramatic changes and growing scientific outputs in lncRNAs field, using a quantitative measurement to analyze and characterize the existing studies has become imperative.Bibliometric analysis is a widely used tool to assess the academic influence of a publication or a country in a specific field. However, a bibliometric analysis of the top 100 most-cited papers in lncRNAs area has not been conducted. Thus, we executed a bibliometric study to identify the authors, journals, countries and institutions that contributed most to the top 100 lncRNAs list, characterize the key words and focus of top 100 most-cited papers, and detect the factors related to their successful citation. This study provides a comprehensive list of the most influential papers on lncRNAs research and demonstrates the important advances in this field, which might be benefit to researchers in their paper publication and scientific cooperation.
    Keywords:  Long noncoding RNAs; bibliometric study; citation analysis; lncRNAs; top-cited
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1080/15384047.2020.1844116
  11. Aesthet Surg J. 2020 Dec 18. pii: sjaa379. [Epub ahead of print]
    Majority of Most Cited Articles in Top Plastic Surgery Journals do not Receive Funding.
    Derek B Asserson, Jeffrey E Janis.
      BACKGROUND: Plastic surgery faculty, residencies, and institutions are frequently judged on the quantity and quality of their research output. Some of the most impressive individuals in the specialty receive financial support in the form of grants and payments to help with research ideas.OBJECTIVES: We wanted to discern if funding directly correlates to greater impact in the top plastic surgery journals as measured by citations.
    METHODS: Using the Web of Science database, we identified the 50 most cited articles in each of the top plastic surgery journals from January 1975 to August 2020. We then scanned these articles for funding sources and delineated between industry, federal, foundational, and institutional while stratifying by decade.
    RESULTS: Between 16 journals, 13.3% of the most cited articles received funding, 2.6% of that coming from industry, 5.4% from government, 4.4% from foundations and 0.86% from institutions. The percentage of most cited articles and proportion that received funding were both correlated with decade (p=0.0017 and p=0.043, respectively). However, only the percentage of articles was found to have a significant increase over time (p=0.0068).
    CONCLUSIONS: Although funding leads to meaningful publications, our study showed that financial support is not required to have an influence in plastic surgery research.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/asj/sjaa379
  12. Cureus. 2020 Nov 11. 12(11): e11443
    Gender-Based Disparity in Academic Ranking and Research Productivity Among Canadian Anesthesiology Faculty.
    Eric N Esslinger, Michael Van der Westhuizen, Sabeena Jalal, Sarmad Masud, Faisal Khosa.
      Purpose Despite increasing numbers of women entering anesthesiology training, women remain underrepresented in senior academic positions and leadership roles. This study aims to determine the extent of gender disparity in Canadian departments of anesthesiology. In addition, we explore the correlation between publication productivity and academic rank in this cohort. Methods The Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS) was queried to identify 17 training programs for anesthesiology. Department websites were searched to determine the names of faculty members, as well as gender, leadership roles, and academic ranks. The SCOPUS© database was used to generate the number of publications, number of citations, publication range, and h-index of each faculty member. Results In our study cohort of 1404 academic anesthesiologists, 30.1% were women. Women held a minority of 130 leadership positions (27%, n = 35). With increasing academic rank female representation decreased (p = 0.009), such that 21% of full professors were women. Overall, male anesthesiologists had a higher h-index, number of publications, and number of citations (p = 0.001, p = 0.001, and p = <0.001, respectively) than women. Conclusion Despite growing numbers of women entering the academic workforce, women are underrepresented in senior academic ranks and leadership positions. In addition, men and women have significant differences in measures of publication productivity. This study underscores the importance of directed efforts to promote equity in career outcomes.
    Keywords:  academic anesthesiology; academic promotion; academic rank; bibliometric analysis; gender disparity; gender equity; h-index; leadership; research productivity
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.11443
  13. Ann Transl Med. 2020 Nov;8(21): 1463
    Publication trends of research on uveal melanoma during 2000-2020: a 20-year bibliometric study.
    Minyue Xie, Qianru Wu, Yefei Wang, Shengfang Ge, Xianqun Fan.
      Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most prevalent primary intraocular malignancy in adults. Despite a high rate of success in controlling it as a local disease, it is prone to distant metastasis, and its mechanism of metastasis has not been elucidated. This study analyzes trends in UM research and compares contributions from different countries, regions, institutions and authors. We collected all publications related to UM published from 2000 to 2020 from the Web of Science database. GraphPad Prism 6 was used to collect publication data and analyze publication trends. VOSviewer was used for data visualization. A total of 1,710 publications were considered. The United States contributed the most publications [668] and citations (19,605 times) as of 2020 with the highest H-index value [67]. Keywords were classified into three clusters, namely, clinical study, tumor-related study and gene mutation-related study. Average appearing years (AAY) of keywords were calculated. BAP1 (AAY of 2016.3), SF3B1 (AAY of 2015.8) and GNA11 (AAY of 2015.5) were identified as major focuses of this field. We conclude that the United States, Germany, England and the Netherlands have been the most productive regions in terms of UM research over the past two decades. Gene mutations such as GNAQ, GNA11 and BAP1 mutations are identified as potential research focuses.
    Keywords:  Bibliometric analysis; metastasis; mutations; publication; uveal melanoma (UM)
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-3700
  14. Brain Sci. 2020 Dec 14. pii: E985. [Epub ahead of print]10(12):
    Documentary Analysis of the Scientific Literature on Autism and Technology in Web of Science.
    Noemí Carmona-Serrano, Jesús López-Belmonte, José-Luis Cuesta-Gómez, Antonio-José Moreno-Guerrero.
      The objective of the study is to track the progression of the scientific literature on autism and the technology applied to this disorder. A bibliometric methodology has been used, based on a co-word analysis. The Web of Science database was chosen to perform the analysis of the literature. A unit of analysis of 1048 publications was configured. SciMAT software was used mainly for document analysis. The results indicate that the first studies appeared in 1992, but it was not until 2009 that the research volume increased considerably. The area of knowledge where these studies were compiled was rehabilitation, which marks the truly therapeutic nature of this type of study. One of the authors with the most studies, as well as the most relevant research, was Sarkar, N. Manuscripts were usually research articles written in English. It could be concluded that research in this field of study focused mainly on interventions carried out through the use of technological resources, with students or young people who present with ASD. This line of research, although not the only one, was the most relevant and the one that had aroused the most interest among the scientific community.
    Keywords:  ASD; ICT; SciMAT; autism; bibliometric analysis; scientific mapping; technology; web of science
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10120985
  15. Ann Transl Med. 2020 Nov;8(21): 1453
    Performance of Chinese medical postgraduate students in literature searching: a two-center survey and analysis.
    Zhi Mao, Ting Wu, Jiabing Zhang, Dan Feng, Jinsong Chen, Chao Liu, Shuang Qi, Qinglin Li, Hongjun Kang, Feihu Zhou.
      Background: To explore the performance status of Chinese postgraduate medical students in literature searching.Methods: A self-designed online questionnaire was used to assess the literature search performance of postgraduate students (PGSs) from the classes of 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 from two medical colleges. The items of the questionnaire mainly included: the demographic characteristics of the PGSs, methods of literature review, literature reading habits, and use of literature. We also designed a self-assessed score that ranged from the lowest 1 point to the highest 5 points.
    Results: A total of 902 PGSs (482 male, average age: 29.4±5.8 years old, working time range: 0-10 years, average 3.7±2.4 years) completed the questionnaire. Most PGSs investigated literature only at the work tasks (632, 70.1%) and writing papers (571, 63.3%) stages. Of the PGSs, 542 (60.1%) PGSs searched literature frequency (≥1 paper/week), and 114 (12.6%) did not perform advanced searches, and some had no knowledge of advanced search techniques at all. Most PGSs had not read more than 100 Chinese articles or English articles before. Most PGSs were used to read articles from the most authoritative journals (665, 73.7%) or high impact factor (IF) (540, 59.9%). PGSs (845, 93.7%) only read the full text of articles they deemed important. Of the PGSs, 441 (48.9%) did not use literature management tools. For self-assessed score of literature searching and reading skills, the mean was 2.1 (standard deviation, 0.8). Reading literature efficiently (710, 78.7%) and tracking recent literatures (615, 68.2%) were the two needed literature skills reported.
    Conclusions: Chinese medical PGSs still have room for improvement in relation to literature investigation. Intensive training in literature searching should be given to improve their performance.
    Keywords:  Postgraduate students (PGSs); literature search; strategy
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-6932
  16. Strahlenther Onkol. 2020 Dec 18.
    Peer review analysis in the field of radiation oncology: results from a web-based survey of the Young DEGRO working group.
    Lukas Käsmann, Annemarie Schröder, Benjamin Frey, Daniel F Fleischmann, Tobias Gauer, Nadja Ebert, Markus Hecht, David Krug, Maximilian Niyazi, Matthias Mäurer, .
      PURPOSE: To evaluate the reviewing behaviour in the German-speaking countries in order to provide recommendations to increase the attractiveness of reviewing activity in the field of radiation oncology.METHODS: In November 2019, a survey was conducted by the Young DEGRO working group (jDEGRO) using the online platform "eSurveyCreator". The questionnaire consisted of 29 items examining a broad range of factors that influence reviewing motivation and performance.
    RESULTS: A total of 281 responses were received. Of these, 154 (55%) were completed and included in the evaluation. The most important factors for journal selection criteria and peer review performance in the field of radiation oncology are the scientific background of the manuscript (85%), reputation of the journal (59%) and a high impact factor (IF; 40%). Reasons for declining an invitation to review include the scientific background of the article (60%), assumed effort (55%) and a low IF (27%). A double-blind review process is preferred by 70% of respondents to a single-blind (16%) or an open review process (14%). If compensation was offered, 59% of participants would review articles more often. Only 12% of the participants have received compensation for their reviewing activities so far. As compensation for the effort of reviewing, 55% of the respondents would prefer free access to the journal's articles, 45% a discount for their own manuscripts, 40% reduced congress fees and 39% compensation for expenses.
    CONCLUSION: The scientific content of the manuscript, reputation of the journal and a high IF determine the attractiveness for peer reviewing in the field of radiation oncology. The majority of participants prefer a double-blind peer review process and would conduct more reviews if compensation was available. Free access to journal articles, discounts for publication costs or congress fees, or an expense allowance were identified to increase attractiveness of the review process.
    Keywords:  Impact factor; Peer review; Publication; Radiation oncology; Scientific publishing
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/s00066-020-01729-2
  17. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2020 Oct 18. pii: S0376-8716(20)30522-6. [Epub ahead of print] 108357
    News and social media coverage is associated with more downloads and citations of manuscripts that focus on substance use.
    Joseph J Palamar, Eric C Strain.
      BACKGROUND: A variety of substance use-related topics are discussed in the public discourse; however, it is unknown how public discussion of published substance-related findings relates to manuscript downloads and citations. This manuscript examines how traditional and social media coverage of published findings about substance use affects downloads and scientific citations.METHODS: Altmetric and bibliographic information was obtained for manuscripts published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence between 2018 and 2019 (n = 943). Associations were examined between news and social media coverage (i.e., Twitter, Facebook) in relation to number of manuscript downloads and number of citations. This was done in a bivariable manner and in a multivariable manner examining correlates of being in the top 10th percentile of downloads and citations.
    RESULTS: 73.3 % of articles were shared on Twitter, 23.6 % were shared on Facebook, and 13.9 % were covered in news sources (with 4.0 % receiving major media coverage). Epidemiology papers were among the most covered in the news, and e-cigarette review papers were among the most downloaded. News and social media coverage were positively associated with number of downloads and citations in bivariable models and with achieving the top 10 % of downloads and citations in multivariable models (ps < .001). Publishing a press release was associated with higher likelihood of receiving additional news coverage (aPR = 7.85, 95 % CI: 5.15-11.97).
    CONCLUSIONS: Traditional and social media coverage of manuscripts focusing on substance use are associated with more downloads and citations. Researchers should consider sharing findings not only to increase downloads and citations but also to educate the general public.
    Keywords:  Altmetrics; Citations; Facebook; Social media; Twitter
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108357
  18. Dis Colon Rectum. 2020 Dec 08. Publish Ahead of Print
    Evaluation of Factors Associated with Successful Matriculation to Colon and Rectal Surgery Fellowship.
    Mackenzie L Shindorf, Amy R Copeland, Shreya Gupta, Seth M Steinberg, Scott R Steele, Heather L Yeo, Julian A Sanchez, Jonathan M Hernandez.
      BACKGROUND: As an increasing number of General Surgery residents apply for fellowship positions, it is important to identify factors associated with successful matriculation. For applicants to Colon and Rectal Surgery, there are currently no objective data available to distinguish which applicant attributes lead to successful matriculation.OBJECTIVE: Identify objective factors that differentiate Colon and Rectal Surgery fellowship applicants who successfully matriculate to those who apply but do not matriculate.
    DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of Colon and Rectal Surgery applicant characteristics.
    SETTINGS: Deidentified applicant data provided by the Association of American Medical Colleges from 2015-2017.
    MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Applicant demographics, medical school and residency factors, number of program applications, number of publications, and journal impact factors were analyzed to determine associations with successful matriculation.
    RESULTS: Most applicants (n=371) and subsequently matriculants (n=248) were white (61%, 62%, respectively), male (65%, 63%), U.S. citizens (80%, 88%) who graduated from U.S. allopathic medical schools (66%, 75%). Statistically significant associations included graduation from U.S. allopathic medical schools (p<0.0001), U.S. citizenship (p<0.0001), and number of program applications (p=0.0004). Other factors analyzed included: AOA membership (p=0.57), university-based residency (p=0.51), and residency association with a Colon and Rectal Surgery training program (p=0.89). Number of publications and journal impact factors were not statistically different between cohorts (p=0.067, p=0.15, respectively).
    LIMITATIONS: ABSITE scores, rank list, and subjective characteristics such as strength of interview and letters of recommendation were not available using our data source.
    CONCLUSIONS: Successful matriculation to a Colon and Rectal Surgery fellowship program was found to be associated with U.S. citizenship, graduation from a U.S. allopathic medical school, and greater number of program applications. The remaining objective metrics analyzed were not associated with successful matriculation. Subjective and objective factors that were unable to be measured by this study are likely to play a determining role. See Video Abstract at http://links.lww.com/DCR/B415 .
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/DCR.0000000000001849
  19. Comput Biol Med. 2020 Dec 03. pii: S0010-4825(20)30493-5. [Epub ahead of print]128 104162
    Recent trends on omics and bioinformatics approaches to study SARS-CoV-2: A bibliometric analysis and mini-review.
    Julieth Murillo, Lina María Villegas, Leidy Marcela Ulloa-Murillo, Alejandra Rocío Rodríguez.
      BACKGROUND: The successful sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 cleared the way for the use of omics technologies and integrative biology research for combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, many research groups have slowed down their respective projects to concentrate efforts in the study of the biology of SARS-CoV-2. In this bibliometric analysis and mini-review, we aimed to describe how computational methods or omics approaches were used during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.METHODS: We analyzed bibliometric data from Scopus, BioRxiv, and MedRxiv (dated June 19th, 2020) using quantitative and knowledge mapping approaches. We complemented our analysis with a manual process of carefully reading the selected articles to identify either the omics or bioinformatic tools used and their purpose.
    RESULTS: From a total of 184 articles, we found that metagenomics and transcriptomics were the main sources of data to perform phylogenetic analysis aimed at corroborating zoonotic transmission, identifying the animal origin and taxonomic allocation of SARS-CoV-2. Protein sequence analysis, immunoinformatics and molecular docking were used to give insights about SARS-CoV-2 targets for drug and vaccine development. Most of the publications were from China and USA. However, China, Italy and India covered the top 10 most cited papers on this topic.
    CONCLUSION: We found an abundance of publications using omics and bioinformatics approaches to establish the taxonomy and animal origin of SARS-CoV-2. We encourage the growing community of researchers to explore other lesser-known aspects of COVID-19 such as virus-host interactions and host response.
    Keywords:  Bibliometrics; COVID-19; Omics sciences; SARS-CoV-2; VOSviewer
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compbiomed.2020.104162
  20. Anaesth Crit Care Pain Med. 2020 Dec;pii: S2352-5568(20)30261-7. [Epub ahead of print]39(6): 745-746
    A communication strategy based on Twitter improves article citation rate and impact factor of medical journals.
    Thomas Clavier, Emmanuel Besnier, Alice Blet, Matthieu Boisson, Stéphanie Sigaut, Denis Frasca, Osama Abou Arab, Vincent Compère, Clément Buléon, Marc-Olivier Fischer.
      
    Keywords:  Citation; Impact factor; Publication; Social media; Twitter
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accpm.2020.11.001
  21. Arch Bone Jt Surg. 2020 Nov;8(6): 748-756
    Bibliometric Analysis of the100 Highly-cited Articles about COVID-19.
    Ahmadreza Afshar, Ali Tabrizi.
      
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.22038/abjs.2020.51846.2556
  22. Transplant Proc. 2020 Dec 13. pii: S0041-1345(20)32875-X. [Epub ahead of print]
    Fate of Abstracts Presented at the Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Scientific Meetings.
    Amy Hort, Peter Yoon, Qiuye Cheng, Ahmer Hameed, Jerome Laurence, Wayne J Hawthorne, Henry C Pleass.
      BACKGROUND: The numbers and characteristics of the abstracts presented at the Annual Scientific Meetings (ASM) of the Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) that are converted to peer-reviewed publications have not been analyzed previously.METHODS: All abstracts presented at the TSANZ ASM from 2013 to 2017 were reviewed. A literature search was performed using a search algorithm to identify the full-text publications of the presented abstracts. Correlation between abstract characteristics and publication rate was then examined using Cox proportional hazards regression and Kaplan-Meier curves to distinguish the predictors for publication. Over the 5-year period, 576 abstracts were presented, with a total of 164 (28.6%) presentations converted to publications. The majority of publications occurred within the first 3 years, with the mean time to publication being 16.6 (standard deviation = 14.6) months. The median impact factor for published research was 4.74 (interquartile range = 3.06-5.58). Multivariate analysis identified clinical science papers, systematic reviews and surveys (likelihood ratio = 1.42, 5.02, and 2.01; P = .040, .000, and .010, respectively) as the most important predictors for publication.
    CONCLUSIONS: The rate of abstracts presented at the TSANZ ASM over 5 years that were converted to publication in a peer-reviewed journal was 28.6%. Clinical papers, systematic reviews, and surveys were more likely to be published. An ongoing strict abstract selection process will contribute to improving conversion of abstracts into full-text peer-reviewed articles.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.transproceed.2020.10.032
  23. SAGE Open Med. 2020 ;8 2050312120977116
    Review of research output of Australian and New Zealand colorectal surgeons over the past 20 years.
    Jessica Rahme, Adele Lee, Mat Matija Radojcic, Pith Beh Soh, Satish Warrier, Alexander Heriot, Nikolajs Zeps, Michael Smits, Philip Smart.
      Objectives: High-quality research has a tangible impact on patient care and should inform all medical decision-makings. Appraising and benchmarking of research is necessary in evidence-based medicine and allocation of funding. The aim of this review is to demonstrate how evidence may be gathered by quantifying the amount and type of research by a group of surgeons over a 20-year period.Methods: Members of the Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand were identified in April 2020. A search of the Scopus database was conducted to quantify each surgeon's research output from 1999 to 2020. Authorship details such as the Hirsch index and number of papers published were recorded, as were publication-related details.
    Results: 226 colorectal surgeons were included for analysis, producing a total of 5053 publications. The most frequent colorectal topics were colorectal cancer (32%, n = 1617 of all publications), followed by pelvic floor disorders (4.3%, n = 217) and inflammatory bowel disease (3.5%, n = 177). 56% (n = 2830) of all publications were case series audits (21%, n = 1061), expert opinion pieces (20%, n = 1011) and cohort studies (15%, n = 758). 7% (n = 354) were randomised control or non-randomised control trials, 3% (n = 152) were systematic reviews and 1% (n = 50) were meta-analyses. The top 10% (n = 23) of authors accounted for more than half (54%, n = 2729) of manuscripts published.
    Conclusion: Australasian colorectal surgeons made a significant contribution to the medical literature over the past 20 years and the number of publications is increasing over time. A greater output of higher-level evidence research is needed. This information may be used to better allocate researcher funding and grants for future projects.
    Keywords:  Colorectal surgery; benchmarking; evidence-based medicine; publications; research
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1177/2050312120977116
  24. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2020 Oct 05. pii: D5300. [Epub ahead of print]164
    [Time trends in doctorates and academic career perspectives among Dutch medical doctors: a nationwide cohort study].
    Frank J Wolters.
      OBJECTIVE: To determine secular trends in the number of doctoral degrees among medical doctors in the Netherlands, and assess their future career perspectives.DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study.
    METHOD: Data on awarded doctoral degrees in the period 1992-2018 were acquired from all medical faculties in the Netherlands. For the 2008 cohort of graduates, I assessed 10-year career perspectives by determining their job affiliation and number of scientific publications in PubMed as of 2019.
    RESULTS: The average number of doctorate degrees awarded per medical faculty increased from 64 in 1992 to 198 in 2018, largely due to an increase in the number of female graduates, who comprised 60-65% of graduates in recent years. Nearly half of all PhD graduates were medical doctors. Of 368 medical doctors in the year 2008, 43% had an academic affiliation 10 years after graduation, similar for men and women (odds ratio [95% CI] for women: 1.40 [0.92-2.14]). During the intermediate 10 years, they published a median 7 scientific papers (interquartile range: 2-20), of which 1 (0-3) were written as lead author and 0 (0-2) as senior author. Men published more often than women (9 [3-27] vs. 6 [2-15] papers, P=0.03), in particular when situated in an academic work environment (23 [11-47] vs. 12 [5-25], P=0.005).
    CONCLUSION: The number of doctoral degrees awarded at medical faculties in the Netherlands has increased threefold over the past 30 years. While 10-year career perspectives after their viva were similar across gender, scientific output of men during this period exceeded that of women.
  25. PLoS One. 2020 ;15(12): e0241915
    Making it to the PhD: Gender and student performance in sub-Saharan Africa.
    Monica Fisher, Violet Nyabaro, Ruth Mendum, Moses Osiru.
      Women's underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) impedes progress in solving Africa's complex development problems. As in other regions, women's participation in STEM drops progressively moving up the education and career ladder, with women currently constituting 30% of Africa's STEM researchers. This study elucidates gender-based differences in PhD performance using new survey data from 227 alumni of STEM PhD programs in 17 African countries. We find that, compared to their male counterparts, sampled women had about one less paper accepted for publication during their doctoral studies and took about half a year longer to finish their PhD training. Negative binomial regression models provide insights on the observed differences in women's and men's PhD performance. Results indicate that the correlates of publication productivity and time to PhD completion are very similar for women and men, but some gender-based differences are observed. For publication output, we find that good supervision had a stronger impact for men than women; and getting married during the PhD reduced women's publication productivity but increased that of men. Becoming a parent during the PhD training was a key reason that women took longer to complete the PhD, according to our results. Findings suggest that having a female supervisor, attending an institution with gender policies in place, and pursuing the PhD in a department where sexual harassment by faculty was perceived as uncommon were enabling factors for women's timely completion of their doctoral studies. Two priority interventions emerge from this study: (1) family-friendly policies and facilities that are supportive of women's roles as wives and mothers and (2) fostering broader linkages and networks for women in STEM, including ensuring mentoring and supervisory support that is tailored to their specific needs and circumstances.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241915
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