Gender parity in scientific authorship in a National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre: a bibliometric analysis

Progress in Physical Activity Surveillance, Research, Policy, and Gender Equity in Brazil: Results From the Global Observatory for Physical Activity

BACKGROUND

Physical activity benefits both individuals and societies. This article evaluates progress in physical activity surveillance, research, policy, and authorship gender equity in Brazil (1950-2019).

METHODS

We used data from a systematic review and the country cards produced by the Global Observatory for Physical Activity. Brazilian articles identified in the review were classified according to research theme and gender distribution in authorship. We also assessed the changes in physical activity policy and surveillance in Brazil.

RESULTS

Of the 23,860 articles identified in the global review, 1200 (5.0%) were from Brazil. There was a sharp increase in publications from the 2000s, but a slight decline has been observed since 2015. Most studies were on physical activity surveillance (37%). The proportion of females as first authors was 51.2% in the last decade analyzed (2010-2019)-however, the proportion of female senior authors was below 40%. Brazil has a comprehensive surveillance system that includes all ages in periodic physical activity monitoring. Brazil has a physical activity policy embedded in noncommunicable diseases and health promotion policies, has recently launched guidelines for the population, and has a wide range of policies embedded in the national public health system.

CONCLUSION

Brazil is a leading middle-income country regarding physical activity research, policy, and surveillance. The results revealed some gender disparity in leadership roles in publications. The next challenge is translating this progress into increased physical activity levels among the Brazilian population.

Gender Distribution of Course Material Authors in a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program

The gender distribution of authors in the health sciences literature has been well documented. We explored whether this distribution persists among library course reserves for a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program, as course reserves are veterinary faculty members' own teaching materials. Such a bibliometric analysis of course reserves provides a novel method of examining curricular materials. In the Fall of 2022, researchers collected the library's current course reserve metadata, including fields, such as author names and material types. Binary gender was determined based on a variety of sources: traditional naming conventions, gender presentation in photographs, pronouns in signatures, and biographies. Of the 167 exported authors, 162 were included for further analysis in SPSS. Course reserves' authors were analyzed by collaborators and media type. The dichotomous gender distribution of first authors was 76% male/ 24% female. Female first authors were more likely to have collaborators than male first authors (39% vs 26%). When collaborations did occur, first and second authors had the same gender at a significantly higher rate. Exploring author gender across material type, we found that generally, the first author gender ratio remained 3 males to every female. Contextualizing these results in the framework of contemporary health sciences literature, we found that the gender disparities in course reserves to be unsurprising, while still disappointing.

A Systematic Review of Gender Disparity in the Authorship of Clinical Trials and Clinical Practice Guidelines in Various Medicine Subspecialties

Authorship in clinical trials and clinical practice guidelines is considered prestigious and is associated with broader peer recognition. This systematic review investigated female representation among studies reporting authorship trends in clinical trials or clinical practice guidelines in different medicine subspecialties. Our search strategy yielded 836 articles, of which 30 met the inclusion criteria. Our findings indicate that females are severely underrepresented in authorship of clinical trials and clinical practice guidelines. Although the proportions of females may have improved in the past decade, the gains are marginal. Notably, studies in this domain predominantly focus on first/last authorship positions, and whether females are underrepresented in other positions as collaborative partners is currently unknown. Also, authorship trends in clinical trials or clinical practice guidelines of most medicine subspecialties besides cardiovascular medicine remain under-researched. Hence, standardizing the methodology for studying gender disparity in research output for comparative analysis between different subspecialties is as urgent as addressing the gender disparity in authorship.

Ethnicity and gender trends of UK authors in The British Medical Journal and the Lancet over the past two decades: a comprehensive longitudinal analysis

Background

While gender equity among academic authors has been extensively investigated, there is a significant gap in our understanding of racial/ethnic authorship trends, despite the recognition of barriers to authorship along both ethnic and gender lines. Leveraging the meta-data for all articles published in The British Medical Journal (The BMJ) and the Lancet and between 2002 and 2022 (inclusive), we explore demographic trends among UK academic medicine authors in two of the world's leading British medical journals.

Methods

We systematically searched PubMed's MEDLINE for all articles published in The BMJ and Lancet between January 1st 2002 and December 31st 2022. Filtering for articles with a UK affiliation, we predicted gender using a publicly-validated name-to-gender dictionary, while data was analysed to explore and investigate ethnicity using the Consumer Data Research Centre's (CDRC) Ethnicity Estimator. Data was analysed to explore and investigate: (a) the proportion of female/male author publications, (b) the proportion of the various UK author ethnicity groups, and (c) the overlap/intersection between gender and ethnic identities among first and last authors. This comprehensive longitudinal analysis was conducted on 82,143 articles (51,209 from The BMJ and 30,934 from the Lancet) which represents >97% of all published articles between 2002 and 2022. As we sought to understand how academic authorship reflects the diversity of the UK population, we limited our analysis to first and last authors who had a UK affiliation and excluded "news" and "comments" pieces (16,736 articles for The BMJ and 4678 articles from the Lancet). The main outcome measures were the trends in first and last authorship demographics of academic medicine, focusing on the proportion of female/male authors, ethnicity and their intersectionality.

Findings

Our findings show that, while women have made substantial headway towards equity among first and last authorship in The BMJ (peaking at 42% and 43%), they remain under-represented in the Lancet (35% and 27%). In both The BMJ and Lancet, Black authors have remained severely under-represented as both first and last authors (below 1% for most of the two decades), while Asian authors have increased proportionally to match their fraction in the general population (ranging from 2 to 10%).

Interpretation

Analysis over the past two decades has shown that the gender author gap is decreasing quickly in The BMJ and Lancet. However, despite the two journals' growing focus on structural inequalities in medical academia, little progress has been made in rectifying the large gap between White British authors and other ethnic groups, especially Black authors. Without more awareness, diversity initiatives which have resulted in positive gains for White women do not seem to translate well for authors of colour.

Funding

None.

Gender Equity in Medicine and Dermatology in the United States: The Long Road Traveled and the Journey ahead

Over the past 50 years there has been an increase in the representation of women in medicine with similar rates of men and women graduating from medical training today. Nevertheless, gender gaps in leadership, research publications, and compensation persist. Herein, we review trends in gender differences among leadership positions in academic medicine with a particular focus on dermatology, evaluate the roles of mentorship, motherhood, and gender bias on gender equity, and discuss constructive solutions for addressing gender inequities that persist in academic medicine today.

General practice-based cancer research publications: a bibliometric analysis 2013-2019

BACKGROUND

General practice plays a critical role in the prevention, diagnosis, management, and survivorship care of patients with cancer. Mapping research outputs over time provides valuable insights into the evolving role of general practice in cancer care.

AIM

To describe and compare the distribution of cancer in general practice research publications by country, cancer type, area of the cancer continuum, author sex, and journal impact factor.

DESIGN AND SETTING

A bibliometric analysis using a systematic approach to identify publications.

METHOD

MEDLINE and Embase databases were searched for studies published between 2013 and 2019, which reported on cancer in general practice. Included studies were mapped to the cancer continuum framework. Descriptive statistics were used to present data from the included studies.

RESULTS

A total of 2798 publications were included from 714 journals, spanning 79 countries. The publication rate remained stable over this period. Overall, the US produced the most publications (n = 886, 31.7%), although, per general population capita, Denmark produced nearly 10 times more publications than the US (20.0 publications per million compared with 2.7 publications per million). Research across the cancer continuum varied by country, but, overall, most studies focused on cancer screening, diagnosis, and survivorship. More than half of included studies used observational study designs (n = 1523, 54.4%). Females made up 66.5% (n = 1304) of first authors, but only 47.0% (n = 927) of last authors.

CONCLUSION

Cancer in general practice is a stable field where research is predominantly observational. There is geographical variation in the focus of cancer in general practice research, which may reflect different priorities and levels of investment between countries. Overall, these results support future consideration of how to improve under-represented research areas and the design, conduct, and translation of interventional research.

Profile of brazilian research productivity grant holders with a background in pediatric dentistry

This study outlines the profile of research productivity grant holders of the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development)] in the field of pediatric dentistry. A cross-sectional study with data collected from the Brazilian academic curriculum vitae database. The eligibility criterion was being a research productivity grant holder in pediatric dentistry from 2018 to 2020. In the period of interest, 215 individuals were research productivity grant holders in the field of dentistry, 33 of whom had graduate degrees (specialization, master's or doctorate) in pediatric dentistry. The period of scientific production and work concluded of advising of scientific initiation, master, doctoral and post-doctoral degrees was 2010 to 2020. Descriptive analysis was performed and the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to analyze associations (5% significance level) between productivity grant level (2, 1D, 1C, 1B or 1A) and year of obtainment of the doctoral degree. The VOSviewer (version 1.6.17) was used to present graphically the interinstitutional collaborations. The sample was composed of Level 2 researchers (66.7%), women (66.7%), researchers linked to institutions in the southeastern region of Brazil (81.8%), with a doctoral degree concluded prior to 2002 (51.5%), began working as a professor at a higher education institution prior to 2007 (78.8%) and the title of full professor (45.5%). No significant association was found between productivity grant level and year of conclusion of the doctoral degree (p = 0.10). Median (interquartile range) of scientific articles was 119 (37-312). The prevalence of citations (57.52%) and JCR articles (62.76%) was higher among female researchers. In conclusion, CNPq research productivity grant holders in pediatric dentistry are essentially represented by females from the southeast region of the country (UFMG and USP). However, males have proportionally greater productivity.

Relationship between research activities and individual factors among Japanese nursing researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aim

To explore the individual factors (such as gender, division of household labor, childcare and elder care) and their impact on research activities in the Japanese nursing research community during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic from April to June in 2020.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Methods

An online survey with a self-reported questionnaire was conducted on Japan Academy of Nursing Science members to explore the impacts of individual factors among Japanese nursing researchers from April to June 2020. A multivariate logistic regression model was used for data analysis.

Results

A total of 1,273 participants (90.7% female, 85.8% university faculty) were included in the analysis. This survey showed that no evidence of a significant gender gap was found in research activities in Japanese nursing researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research activities during the pandemic were associated with time and motivation.

Trends of research productivity across author gender and research fields: A multidisciplinary and multi-country observational study

Bibliographic properties of more than 75 million scholarly articles, are examined and trends in overall research productivity are analysed as a function of research field (over the period of 1970-2020) and author gender (over the period of 2006-2020). Potential disruptive effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are also investigated. Over the last decade (2010-2020), the annual number of publications have invariably increased every year with the largest relative increase in a single year happening in 2019 (more than 6% relative growth). But this momentum was interrupted in 2020. Trends show that Environmental Sciences and Engineering Environmental have been the fastest growing research fields. The disruption in patterns of scholarly publication due to the Covid-19 pandemic was unevenly distributed across fields, with Computer Science, Engineering and Social Science enduring the most notable declines. The overall trends of male and female productivity indicate that, in terms of absolute number of publications, the gender gap does not seem to be closing in any country. The trends in absolute gap between male and female authors is either parallel (e.g., Canada, Australia, England, USA) or widening (e.g., majority of countries, particularly Middle Eastern countries). In terms of the ratio of female to male productivity, however, the gap is narrowing almost invariably, though at markedly different rates across countries. While some countries are nearing a ratio of .7 and are well on track for a 0.9 female to male productivity ratio, our estimates show that certain countries (particularly across the Middle East) will not reach such targets within the next 100 years. Without interventional policies, a significant gap will continue to exist in such countries. The decrease or increase in research productivity during the first year of the pandemic, in contrast to trends established before 2020, was generally parallel for male and female authors. There has been no substantial gender difference in the disruption due to the pandemic. However, opposite trends were found in a few cases. It was observed that, in some countries (e.g., The Netherlands, The United States and Germany), male productivity has been more negatively affected by the pandemic. Overall, female research productivity seems to have been more resilient to the disruptive effect of Covid-19 pandemic, although the momentum of female researchers has been negatively affected in a comparable manner to that of males.

Gender profile of principal investigators in a large academic clinical trials group

Introduction

Gender equity in medicine has become a significant topic of discussion due to consistently low female representation in academia and leadership roles. Gender imbalance directly affects patient care. This study examined the gender and craft group of the Principal Investigators (PI) of clinical trials run by the Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group (AGITG)

Methods

Publicly available data was obtained from the AGITG website. Trials were divided into upper, lower gastrointestinal cancer, miscellaneous (neuroendocrine and gastrointestinal stromal tumours). Where multiple PIs were listed, all were counted. Craft group was assigned as surgical, medical, radiation oncology or other.

Results

There were 69 trials with 89 PI, where 52 trials were represented exclusively by male PIs. Of all PIs, 18 were women (20.2%); all were medical oncologists. Prior to 2005, all PIs were male. The craft group distribution of PIs was: 79% medical oncologists, 12% surgical oncologists, 8% radiation oncologist, 1% nuclear medicine physicians. Regarding trials with multiple PI's, there were 19 in total. Of these, 11 had only male PIs, which included 5 surgeons. Females were more likely to be a co-PI (42%) as opposed to sole PI (18%). There was no gender policy publicly available on the AGITG website.

Conclusions

There is a low percentage of female PIs in academic oncology trials in the portfolio of this large international trials group. No trial was led by a female surgical or radiation oncologist. There is a need to understand the reasons driving the disparity so that specific strategies can be put in place.

La mujer en la investigación en la sociedad científica. Una aproximación mediante un análisis de producción científica en la semFYC

Objetivo: conocer el grado de feminización de la autoría de los estudios y proyectos de investigación presentados en las reuniones científicas nacionales de la Sociedad Española de Medicina de Familia y Comunitaria (semFYC). Métodos: se realizó un estudio descriptivo transversal mediante el análisis de las bases de datos de las comunicaciones de investigación presentadas en los congresos nacionales de la semFYC entre los años 2007 y 2021, así como de los proyectos presentados para las becas de investigación para tesis doctorales. Se recogieron las variables de género, comunidad autónoma, universidad, año de celebración del congreso y áreas temáticas estudiadas. Resultados: se analizaron 6.057 comunicaciones de investigación, siendo el 66,7% (IC 95%: 65,5-67,8) presentadas por una mujer con primera autora. Las comunidades a las que corresponden el mayor porcentaje de comunicaciones de autoría femenina fueron Cataluña (42%), Andalucía (19%), Madrid (8%), Comunidad Valenciana (5%) y Murcia (5%). Aragón es la que presenta mayor ratio de mujeres/hombres (72%), seguida de Cataluña (69%) y Andalucía (69%). Se analizaron 273 proyectos de tesis doctorales, siendo una investigadora principal en el 72% (IC 95%: 66,7-77,7), y procedente de Cataluña (23,9%), Andalucía (18,9%). Las universidades más representadas son la Autónoma de Barcelona (12,5%), Zaragoza (6,4%) y Valladolid (5,5%), estas dos últimas con la mayor ratio de feminización (100%, 48%, respectivamente). Conclusiones: la investigación presentada en los eventos de la semFYC está feminizada, siendo reflejo de la feminización de la medicina de familia, y manteniéndose a lo largo del tiempo. Las comunidades autónomas (CC. AA.) con estructuras específicas de investigación para la Atención Primaria (AP) son también las que más contribuyen a dicha feminización. Palabras clave: género, Atención Primaria, investigación, feminización de la medicina.

La mujer en la investigación en la sociedad científica. Una aproximación mediante un análisis de producción científica en la semFYC

Objetivo: conocer el grado de feminización de la autoría de los estudios y proyectos de investigación presentados en las reuniones científicas nacionales de la Sociedad Española de Medicina de Familia y Comunitaria (semFYC). Métodos: se realizó un estudio descriptivo transversal mediante el análisis de las bases de datos de las comunicaciones de investigación presentadas en los congresos nacionales de la semFYC entre los años 2007 y 2021, así como de los proyectos presentados para las becas de investigación para tesis doctorales. Se recogieron las variables de género, comunidad autónoma, universidad, año de celebración del congreso y áreas temáticas estudiadas. Resultados: se analizaron 6.057 comunicaciones de investigación, siendo el 66,7% (IC 95%: 65,5-67,8) presentadas por una mujer con primera autora. Las comunidades a las que corresponden el mayor porcentaje de comunicaciones de autoría femenina fueron Cataluña (42%), Andalucía (19%), Madrid (8%), Comunidad Valenciana (5%) y Murcia (5%). Aragón es la que presenta mayor ratio de mujeres/hombres (72%), seguida de Cataluña (69%) y Andalucía (69%). Se analizaron 273 proyectos de tesis doctorales, siendo una investigadora principal en el 72% (IC 95%: 66,7-77,7), y procedente de Cataluña (23,9%), Andalucía (18,9%). Las universidades más representadas son la Autónoma de Barcelona (12,5%), Zaragoza (6,4%) y Valladolid (5,5%), estas dos últimas con la mayor ratio de feminización (100%, 48%, respectivamente). Conclusiones: la investigación presentada en los eventos de la semFYC está feminizada, siendo reflejo de la feminización de la medicina de familia, y manteniéndose a lo largo del tiempo. Las comunidades autónomas (CC. AA.) con estructuras específicas de investigación para la Atención Primaria (AP) son también las que más contribuyen a dicha feminización. Palabras clave: género, Atención Primaria, investigación, feminización de la medicina.

Based on billions of words on the internet, people = men

Recent advances have made it possible to precisely measure the extent to which any two words are used in similar contexts. In turn, this measure of similarity in linguistic context also captures the extent to which the concepts being denoted are similar. When extracted from massive corpora of text written by millions of individuals, this measure of linguistic similarity can provide insight into the collective concepts of a linguistic community, concepts that both reflect and reinforce widespread ways of thinking. Using this approach, we investigated the collective concept person/people, which forms the basis for nearly all societal decision- and policy-making. In three studies and three preregistered replications with similarity metrics extracted from a corpus of over 630 billion English words, we found that the collective concept person/people is not gender-neutral but rather prioritizes men over women-a fundamental bias in our species' collective view of itself.

Diversity in high-impact psychiatric publishing: gender parity within reach?

Gender parity and authorship diversity are declared goals in the publishing world. This study assessed the progress of authorship gender distribution over a quarter of a century and geographic diversity over the last 15 years in high-impact psychiatric journals. All articles published in 2019 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the British Journal of Psychiatry, and JAMA Psychiatry were included and compared with data from three points in time starting in 1994. Descriptive statistics were gathered, and chi-square tests were performed. All tests were conducted as two-tailed, and p-values < 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. Inter-rater reliability was calculated via Cohen's kappa. In 2019 a total of 473 articles were published. Forty percent of all authors, 42.3% of first authors, and 29.4% of senior authors were female. Counting original research articles only, female first authorship reached 50.4%. In the 25-year period between 1994 and 2019, female first (p < .001), female senior (p < .001), and female overall (p < .001) authorship has increased. In the specific period between 2014 and 2019, overall female senior authorship in all articles (p = .940) as well as first (p = .101) and senior (p = .157) in original research plateaued. In non-original research articles, female first authorship was higher in 2019 compared to 2014 (p = .014), whilst female senior authorship plateaued (p = .154). Geographic diversity was low and did not change over time. Gender parity in the subcategory original research articles was reached for the first time in 2019. Senior female authorship and geographic diversity remain areas of concern that need further investigation and specific interventions.

Gender disparities in the pediatric allergy-related guidelines in Japan

BACKGROUND

Inclusion of female authors has been noted as potentially beneficial in the development of medical guidelines. Japanese professional committees representing allergic subspecialties develop practical guidelines with recommendations to caregivers, but these committees may be influenced by their gender composition. The objective of our study was to examine the influence of gender in developing pediatric allergic disease guidelines in Japan from 1999 to 2020.

METHODS

We examined the gender parities among the guideline committee members in allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, bronchial asthma, and food allergy guidelines in Japan. We examined the gender composition of the committees, annual trends, and differences in guideline content.

RESULTS

The median proportion of women members among the 22 guidelines committees was 6.6% (range: 0%-27.3%). The analysis of the quadrant period did not show a significant increase in the proportion of female members. The food allergy group had a significantly higher proportion of female members than other guidelines (P < 0.01), but the proportion decreased from 25% to 14.3% during the observation period. For the pediatric asthma guidelines, the proportion of female committee members decreased from 5.3% in the 2000 version to 0% in the most recent revision in 2017.

CONCLUSIONS

The proportion of women on the committees that develop pediatric guidelines continues to be low and has not improved over the past 20 years.

Evidence-based approaches for promoting gender equity in global mental health research: Study protocol for social network analysis of researchers in Nepal

There are increasing efforts for capacity building of researchers in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) to foster local ability to conduct high quality research. However, female researchers remain underrepresented in scientific communities, particularly in LMIC where they have limited networking and mentorship opportunities. This protocol is for a Social Network Analysis (SNA) to evaluate if gender-sensitive, need-based capacity building can improve researchers' networking and mentorship opportunities in Nepal. The conceptual framework is informed by Social Cognitive Career Theory. Cross-sectional and longitudinal SNA are used to a) assess individual researchers’ network characteristics and their association with academic productivity; and b) examine if the association of network characteristics and academic productivity is mediated by self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Recruitment is designed to include early-career and senior researchers conducting mental health research, as well as students interested in pursuing a career in mental health research. The network characteristics will be mapped for approximately 150 researchers in working in Nepal. SNA characteristics in the network (individual density, homophily, and centrality) will be compared with academic productivity (total peer reviewed publications, h-index), including mediation effects via self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Ultimately, this study will generate information to design more evidence-based strategies for capacity building of a gender-equitable research workforce in global mental health.

Gender inequality in the global mental health research workforce: a research authorship scoping review and qualitative study in Nepal

INTRODUCTION

Although women's health is prioritised in global research, few studies have identified structural barriers and strategies to promote female leadership and gender equality in the global health research workforce, especially in low-income and middle-income countries.

METHODS

We conducted a mixed-methods study to evaluate gender equality in the mental health research workforce in Nepal. The scoping review assessed gender disparities in authorship of journal publications for Nepal mental health research, using databases (PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science, NepJol, NepMed) for 5 years. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 22 Nepali researchers to identify structural barriers limiting women's leadership.

RESULTS

Of 337 articles identified, 61% were by Nepali first authors. Among Nepali first authors, 38.3% were women. Nepali women had half the odds of being first authors compared with men, when referenced against non-Nepali authors (OR 0.50, 95% CI 1.30 to 3.16). When limiting publications to those based on funded research, the odds were worse for first authorship among Nepali women (OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.71). The qualitative analysis supported the scoping review and identified a lack of gender-friendly organisational policies, difficulties in communication and mobility, and limited opportunities for networking as barriers to women's leadership in global health research.

CONCLUSION

Efforts are needed for greater representation of Nepali women in global mental health research, which will require transformative organisational policies to foster female leadership. Those in leadership need to recognise gender inequalities and take necessary steps to address them. Funding agencies should prioritise supporting organisations with gender equality task forces, policies and indicators.

A large National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre facilitates impactful cross-disciplinary and collaborative translational research publications and research collaboration networks: a bibliometric evaluation study

Background

The evaluation of translational health research is important for various reasons such as the research impact assessment, research funding allocation, accountability, and strategic research policy formulation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the research productivity, strength and diversity of research collaboration networks and impact of research supported by a large biomedical research centre in the United Kingdom (UK).

Methods

Bibliometric analysis of research publications by translational researchers affiliated with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) from April 2012 to March 2017.

Results

Analysis included 2377 translational research publications that were published during the second 5-year funding period of the NIHR Oxford BRC. Author details were available for 99.75% of the publications with DOIs (2359 of 2365 with DOIs), and the number of authors per publication was median 9 (mean  = 18.03, SD  = 3.63, maximum  = 2467 authors). Author lists also contained many consortia, groups, committees, and teams (n  = 165 in total), with 1238 additional contributors, where membership was reported. The BRC co-authorship i.e., research collaboration network for these publications involved 20,229 nodes (authors, of which 1606 nodes had Oxford affiliations), and approximately 4.3 million edges (authorship linkages). Articles with a valid DOIs (2365 of 2377, 99.5%) were collectively cited more than 155,000 times and the average Field Citation Ratio was median 6.75 (geometric mean  = 7.12) while the average Relative Citation Ratio was median 1.50 (geometric mean  = 1.83) for the analysed publications.

Conclusions

The NIHR Oxford BRC generated substantial translational research publications and facilitated a huge collaborative network of translational researchers working in complex structures and consortia, which shows success across the whole of this BRC funding period. Further research involving continued uptake of unique persistent identifiers and the tracking of other research outputs such as clinical innovations and patents would allow a more detailed understanding of large research enterprises such as NIHR BRCs in the UK.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12967-021-03149-x.