Investigating the research capacity and productivity of Canadian sports chiropractors

Objectives

To investigate the research capacity and productivity of Canadian sports chiropractors.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey (phase one) and scoping review (phase two) investigated the research capacity and productivity (from 2015-2020) of the Canadian sports chiropractic field.

Results

Most respondents (72%) reported obtaining research training from fellowship and master's programs, with only 2 (1%) PhD qualifications identified. Approximately, 30% reported active involvement in research, with 28% being part-time clinician researchers. Access to human and technological research resources were limited. We identified 67 publications and 16 conference presentations within a five-year period, with clinical, population health, and basic science research as the areas most studied.

Conclusion

The research effort of Canadian sports chiropractors is primarily conducted by clinicians involved in research on a part-time basis. Its research outputs predominantly reflect the research requirements of the RCCSS(C) Sports Sciences Residency Program, highlighting its contribution in developing capacity and producing research for the Canadian sports chiropractic field.

The Research Scholarly Output of Africa in Dermatology From 2012 to 2021: Focus on the Top 10 Dermatology Journals

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An Analysis of PubMed Abstracts From 1946 to 2021 to Identify Organizational Affiliations in Epidemiological Criminology: Descriptive Study

BACKGROUND

Epidemiological criminology refers to health issues affecting incarcerated and nonincarcerated offender populations, a group recognized as being challenging to conduct research with. Notwithstanding this, an urgent need exists for new knowledge and interventions to improve heath, justice, and social outcomes for this marginalized population.

OBJECTIVE

To better understand research outputs in the field of epidemiological criminology, we examined the lead author's affiliation by analyzing peer-reviewed published outputs to determine countries and organizations (eg, universities, governmental and nongovernmental organizations) responsible for peer-reviewed publications.

METHODS

We used a semiautomated approach to examine the first-author affiliations of 23,904 PubMed epidemiological studies related to incarcerated and offender populations published in English between 1946 and 2021. We also mapped research outputs to the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index to better understand whether there was a relationship between research outputs and the overall standard of a country's justice system.

RESULTS

Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark) had the highest research outputs proportional to their incarcerated population, followed by Australia. University-affiliated first authors comprised 73.3% of published articles, with the Karolinska Institute (Sweden) being the most published, followed by the University of New South Wales (Australia). Government-affiliated first authors were on 8.9% of published outputs, and prison-affiliated groups were on 1%. Countries with the lowest research outputs also had the lowest scores on the Rule of Law Index.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides important information on who is publishing research in the epidemiological criminology field. This has implications for promoting research diversity, independence, funding equity, and partnerships between universities and government departments that control access to incarcerated and offending populations.

Diversity of academic general medicine: A cross-sectional bibliometric study of original English-language research articles in general medicine and cardiology in Japan

ABSTRACT

Although research in general medicine is diverse, it has not been compared with research in a different medical specialty. The study aim was to understand the characteristics of research produced at Japanese university departments of general medicine and published in English-language journals, via comparison with another academic specialty, cardiology.In this cross-sectional study, a nationwide survey of the official websites of 82 university-affiliated medical schools in Japan was conducted in April 2020 to identify the heads of general medicine departments. We then surveyed the research output of these individuals in terms of original article output and research field diversity for journals listed in the Web of Science Core Collection of journals from 2010 to 2019. A similar survey of cardiology department publications was also conducted to provide a reference for intergroup comparisons and analysis of covariance.The analysis included 128 researchers from 78 general medicine departments and 96 researchers from 81 cardiology departments. The dominant research field of general medicine was general and internal medicine; that of cardiology was cardiac/cardiovascular systems. Data stratification by research field showed that general medicine researchers published significantly more articles than researchers in cardiology, a field that contains relatively few researchers. Furthermore, a comparison of individual researchers with the same number of published articles showed that researchers in general medicine departments published across a significantly wider range of fields than those in cardiology.This is the first study to describe the research characteristics of general medicine university departments in Japan through comparison with research in a different academic specialty. General medicine researchers in Japan comprise a heterogeneous group that mainly publishes research on general and internal medicine. Some general medicine researchers take a multidisciplinary approach to research and publishing.

International mobility activities predict research output: A longitudinal study

A 4-year data set of 274 scientists and technical staff in a Chinese university's physics department was constructed to study the impact of going on international visits (visit) and inviting international scholars (invite) on researchers' academic output. Results showed visit frequency significantly predicted output quantity and quality whereas invites significantly predicted output quantity, but not its quality. Visit/invite frequencies significantly predicted long-term output through short-term output, giving direct proof to their enduring promotion effect on innovation. Visits predicted far-future output through near-future visits whereas invites did not lead to more invites in promoting output. Age moderated the relationship between visits/invites and output. This study provided new evidence on the behavioral and psychological process of international mobility and its impact on research output.

Top 100 Most-Cited Publications on Breast Cancer and Machine Learning Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

BACKGROUND

Rapid advancement in computing technology and digital information leads to the possible use of machine learning on breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to evaluate the research output of the top 100 publications and further identify a research theme of breast cancer and machine-learning studies.

METHODS

Databases of Scopus and Web of Science were used to extract the top 100 publications. These publications were filtered based on the total citation of each paper. Additionally, a bibliometric analysis was applied to the top 100 publications.

RESULTS

The top 100 publications were published between 1993 and 2019. The most productive author was Giger ML, and the top two institutions were the University of Chicago and the National University of Singapore. The most active countries were the USA, Germany and China. Ten clusters were identified as both basic and specialised themes of breast cancer and machine learning.

CONCLUSION

Various countries demonstrated comparable interest in breast cancer and machine-learning research. A few Asian countries, such as China, India and Singapore, were listed in the top 10 countries based on the total citation. Additionally, the use of deep learning and breast imaging data was trending in the past 10 years in the field of breast cancer and machine-learning research.

The Association Between Professional Accounts on Social Networks Twitter and ResearchGate and the Number of Scientific Publications and Citations Among Anesthesia Researchers: Observational Study

BACKGROUND

Social networks are now essential tools for promoting research and researchers. However, there is no study investigating the link between presence or not on professional social networks and scientific publication or citation for a given researcher.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to study the link between professional presence on social networks and scientific publications/citations among anesthesia researchers.

METHODS

We included all the French full professors and associate professors of anesthesia. We analyzed their presence on the social networks Twitter (professional account with ≥1 tweet over the 6 previous months) and ResearchGate. We extracted their bibliometric parameters for the 2016-2020 period via the Web of Science Core Collection (Clarivate Analytics) database in the Science Citation Index-Expanded index.

RESULTS

A total of 162 researchers were analyzed; 42 (25.9%) had an active Twitter account and 110 (67.9%) a ResearchGate account. There was no difference between associate professors and full professors regarding active presence on Twitter (8/23 [35%] vs. 34/139 [24.5%], respectively; P=.31) or ResearchGate (15/23 [65%] vs. 95/139 [68.3%], respectively; P=.81). Researchers with an active Twitter account (median [IQR]) had more scientific publications (45 [28-61] vs. 26 [12-41]; P<.001), a higher h-index (12 [8-16] vs. 8 [5-11]; P<.001), a higher number of citations per publication (12.54 [9.65-21.8] vs. 10.63 [5.67-16.10]; P=.01), and a higher number of citations (563 [321-896] vs. 263 [105-484]; P<.001). Researchers with a ResearchGate account (median [IQR]) had more scientific publications (33 [17-47] vs. 26 [9-43]; P=.03) and a higher h-index (9 [6-13] vs. 8 [3-11]; P=.03). There was no difference between researchers with a ResearchGate account and those without it concerning the number of citations per publication and overall number of citations. In multivariate analysis including sex, academic status, and presence on social networks, the presence on Twitter was associated with the number of publications (β=20.2; P<.001), the number of citations (β=494.5; P<.001), and the h-index (β=4.5; P<.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Among French anesthesia researchers, an active presence on Twitter is associated with higher scientific publication and citations.

Impact of clinical research coordinators on research output in orthopedic surgery

Aim: To describe the efficacy of clinical research coordinators (CRCs) in terms of research output among faculty, residents and medical students. Materials & methods: We analyzed and reviewed departmental research output from the 3 years prior to the hire of 3 CRCs compared with the 3 years following. Results: From 2014 to 2016, the department output was a total of 27 peer-reviewed publications, 16 oral presentations and 33 poster presentations. From 2017-2019 there was a 52% increase in publications (n = 41), 131% increase in oral presentations (n = 37) and a 61% increase in poster presentations (n = 53). Conclusion: The implementation of CRCs has markedly increased tangible research output and trainee involvement. This role may serve as a valuable model for other academic departments.

Global Research Output on Sleep Research in Athletes from 1966 to 2019: A Bibliometric Analysis

This study examined sleep research in athletes published between 1966 and 2019, through a bibliometric analysis of research output in the Scopus database. Following a robust assessment of titles, the bibliometric indicators of productivity for studies included in the final analysis were: Distribution of publications and citations (excluding self-citations), top ten active journals, countries, institutions and authors, single- and multi-country collaboration, and 25 top-cited papers. Out of the 1015 papers, 313 were included in the final analysis. The majority of the papers were research articles (n = 259; 82.8%) and published in English (n = 295; 94.3%). From 2011, there was a dramatic increase in papers published (n = 257; 82.1%) and citations (n = 3538; 91.0%). The number of collaborations increased after 2001, with papers published through international (n = 81; 25.9%) and national (n = 192; 61.3%) collaboration. Australia was the most prolific country in terms of number of publications (n = 97; 31.0%), and citations (n = 1529; 15.8%). In conclusion, after the beginning of the twenty-first century, the scientific production on sleep research in athletes has seen significant growth in publication and citation output. Future research should focus on interventions to improve sleep in athletes.

Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Medical Students' Research Output in Five Developing Countries

Objectives

The purpose of this analysis was to investigate the quantity and quality of medical students’ research output in Gulf Cooperation Council countries to aid in developing strategies to improve research output.

Methods

Abstracts presented by medical students in Gulf Cooperation Council countries were subject to analysis. Abstracts that propagated into full-length articles underwent further demographic analysis, in which data regarding the type of study, the field of study, country of origin, mode of presentation, and journal’s impact factor were collected. A total of 798 abstracts were surveyed, with 19% (n=155) of the abstracts submitted by Gulf Cooperation Council countries progressing into full-length publications. The average impact factor for Gulf Cooperation Council country publications was found to be 1.85 ± 0.26 (standard error). Countries that recorded the highest conversion rates were, in descending order, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait. Moreover, basic biomedical and clinical research topics were more likely to be published in comparison with community-oriented and medical education-related topics.

Conclusions

Effective efforts to encourage more medical student research output in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (with a focus on qualitative analysis) should be promoted in order to achieve publication rates comparable with those reported by developed countries.

Bibliometric analysis of literature in pharmacy education: 2000-2016

OBJECTIVES

Improving pharmacy education requires continuous research to optimize education and consequently pharmacy practice. The goal of this study is to assess national and international contributions to pharmacy education research and present results in comparative bibliometric format.

METHODS

Search strategy based on journal name and specific keywords pertaining to pharmacy education were used to retrieve the worldwide literature in pharmacy education using Scopus database during the period from 2000 to 2016. Bibliometric indicators were presented as top 10 list of countries, institutions and authors. VOSviewer was used to visualize international collaboration, while ArcMap10.1 software was used for geographical mapping of publications.

KEY FINDINGS

A total of 5363 documents, mostly as research articles (4027; 75.1%), were retrieved. A noticeable increase in publications was seen from 2007 to 2011. The USA contributed to more than half (53.6%) of worldwide research output. Saudi Arabia had the highest percentage of international authors representing international collaboration. There was an increase in multi-authored publications with time. The American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (AJPE) ranked first (2822, 52.6%) while the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) had the largest research output with 141 (2.6%) publications. The vast majority of highly cited articles were published in AJPE, and highly cited topics included the use of social media in pharmacy education and the multi-professional learning experience.

CONCLUSION

Pharmacy education research is gaining momentum and is addressing various fields in education. Research in pharmacy education should be encouraged, particularly in developing countries, where education and practice are still lagging behind.

Investigating global trends in paraquat intoxication research from 1962 to 2015 using bibliometric analysis

BACKGROUND

Paraquat is considered to be the main pesticide involved in accidental and intentional poisoning, and is responsible for a high rate of morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to present a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of paraquat intoxication-related research.

METHODS

Data was retrieved in March 2017 from the Scopus database. An overview of the research on paraquat intoxication was presented alongside the information related to several bibliometric indicators, such as research trends, countries with their h-index, collaboration, hot issues, top-cited publications, journals, and institutions.

RESULTS

There were 1971 publications related to paraquat intoxication in the Scopus database that were published between 1966 and 2015. There was increasing research output in the field of paraquat intoxication during the period 2006-2015. The USA published the highest number of publications (n = 338), followed by Japan with 228 publications, and China with 159 publications. The USA and the UK achieved the greatest h-index values (h-index values of 49 and 31, respectively). The USA also achieved the highest number of publications involving international collaboration, with 55 publications, followed by the UK, with 18 publications. The most prevalent topics in this field were "acute paraquat intoxication," "toxic effects of paraquat to the lung," and "mechanism of paraquat toxicity."

CONCLUSIONS

Although a substantial amount of research has been produced on paraquat intoxication for most developed countries, there are research gaps regarding the international research agenda in this research area. The findings could be applied for prioritizing and organizing future research efforts related to paraquat toxicity.

Do AAO-HNSF CORE Grants Predict Future NIH Funding Success?

OBJECTIVE

To determine (1) whether academic otolaryngologists who have received an American Academy of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Centralized Otolaryngology Research Efforts (CORE) grant are more likely to procure future National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding; (2) whether CORE grants or NIH Career Development (K) awards have a stronger association with scholarly impact.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING

Historical cohort.

METHODS

Scholarly impact, as measured by the h-index, publication experience, and prior grant history, were determined for CORE-funded and non-CORE-funded academic otolaryngologists. All individuals were assessed for NIH funding history.

RESULTS

Of 192 academic otolaryngologists with a CORE funding history, 39.6% had active or prior NIH awards versus 15.1% of 1002 non-CORE-funded faculty (P < .0001). Higher proportions of CORE-funded otolaryngologists have received K-series and R-series grants from the NIH (P-values < .05). K-grant recipients had higher h-indices than CORE recipients (12.6 vs 7.1, P < .01). Upon controlling for rank and experience, this difference remained significant among junior faculty.

CONCLUSIONS

A higher proportion of academic otolaryngologists with prior AAO-HNSF CORE funding have received NIH funding relative to their non-CORE-funded peers, suggesting that the CORE program may be successful in its stated goals of preparing individuals for the NIH peer review process, although further prospective study is needed to evaluate a "cause and effect" relationship. Individuals with current or prior NIH K-grants had greater research productivity than those with CORE funding history. Both cohorts had higher scholarly impact values than previously published figures among academic otolaryngologists, highlighting that both CORE grants and NIH K-grants awards are effective career development resources.

Factors influencing scholarly impact: does urology fellowship training affect research output?

PURPOSE

Residents seek postresidency fellowship training to increase competency with novel surgical techniques and augment their fund of knowledge. Research productivity is a vital component of advancement in academic urology. Our objectives were to use the h-index (an objective and readily available bibliometric that has been repeatedly shown to correlate with scholarly impact, funding procurement, and academic promotion in urology as well as other specialties) to determine whether any relationship exists between fellowship training and scholarly impact among academic urologists. Additional examination was performed to determine whether any differences in scholarly influence are present among practitioners in the major urologic subspecialties.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Overall, 851 faculty members from 101 academic urology departments were organized by academic rank and fellowship completed. Research productivity was calculated using the h-index, calculated from the Scopus database.

RESULTS

There was no statistical difference in h-index found between fellowship-trained and nonfellowship-trained academic urologists. The highest h-indices were seen among urologic oncologists (18.1 ± 0.95) and nonfellowship-trained urologists (14.62 ± 0.80). Nearly 70% of department chairs included in this analysis were urologic oncologists or general urologists.

CONCLUSIONS

No difference in h-index existed between fellowship-trained and nonfellowship-trained urologists, although practitioners in the subspecialty cohorts with the highest research productivity (nonfellowship-trained and urologic oncologists) comprised 70% of department chairpersons. This relationship suggests that a strong research profile is highly valued during selection for academic promotion. Differences existed on further comparison by subspecialty. Fellowship training may represent another potential opportunity to introduce structured research experiences for trainees.

Research output of health research institutions and its use in 42 sub-Saharan African countries: results of a questionnaire-based survey

OBJECTIVE

To describe and analyse research output from surveyed national health research institutions in Africa.

DESIGN

The survey used a structured questionnaire to solicit information from 847 health research institutions in 42 countries of the World Health Organization African Region.

SETTING

Eight hundred and forty-seven health research institutions in 42 sub-Saharan African countries.

PARTICIPANTS

Key informants from the health research institutions.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Volume, type and medium of publications, and distribution of research outputs.

RESULTS

Books or chapters for books accounted for the highest number of information products published (on average 16.7 per respondent institution), followed by patents registered in country (8.2), discussion or working papers (6.5) and conference proceedings (6.4). Publication in a peer-reviewed journal constituted only a minor part of research output (on average about 1 paper per institution). Radio and TV broadcasts on health research accounted for the highest number of products issued by institution staff (on average 5.5 per institution), followed by peer-reviewed journals indexed internationally (3.8) or nationally (3.1). There were, on average, 1.5 press releases, 1.5 newspaper or magazine articles, and 1.4 policy briefs per institution. Over half of respondent institutions (52%) developed briefs and summaries of articles to share with their target audiences, 43% developed briefs for possible actions and 37% provided articles and reports upon request. Only a small proportion of information products produced were available in institutional databases.

CONCLUSIONS

The research output of health research institutions in the Region is significant, but more effort is needed to strengthen research capacity, including human and financial resources.

Using levels of evidence to compare clinical impact from research

OBJECTIVES

Impact of medical institutions on clinical decision-making globally might be estimated by the level of evidence of their research articles. The aim of this study was to compare levels of evidence of articles for Pakistan.

METHODS

We compared levels of evidence of articles from Pakistan, Nigeria, Japan, and the United States (U.S.).

RESULTS

Majority (73%) of articles in U.S. general medical journals were high levels (1-2), while majority (66% to 95%) in Japanese, Nigerian, Pakistani, and sub-specialty U.S. journals were lower levels (3-4) (P < 0.001). The number of articles from various regions of Pakistan did not correspond to their population or number of medical colleges/universities, mainly due to the skewing effect of one institution from Karachi which contributed 38% of all high-level articles.

CONCLUSIONS

A comparison of levels of evidence of articles across institutions might reflect relative potential of clinical impact, and might be useful for institutions, policy makers, and health research planners for priority setting.

Global health: the importance of evidence-based medicine

Global health is a varied field that comprises research, evaluation and policy that, by its definition, also occurs in disparate locations across the world. This forum article is introduced by our guest editor of the Medicine for Global Health article collection, Gretchen Birbeck. Here, experts based across different settings describe their personal experiences of global health, discussing how evidence-based medicine in resource-limited settings can be translated into improved health outcomes.

Worldwide research productivity in the field of rheumatology from 1996 to 2010: a bibliometric analysis

OBJECTIVE

Bibliometric studies concerning the quantity and quality of articles published in rheumatology journals are scarce. This study aims to compare scientific production in the field of rheumatology between countries and evaluate the publication trend and citations worldwide.

METHODS

Articles published in 39 rheumatology journals from 1996 to 2010 were screened using the Scopus database. The number of articles, citations, Hirsch indices (h-indices) and international collaborations were determined for countries or regions. Publication activity was adjusted for the top 35 countries categorized by population size and gross domestic product (GDP). RESULTS; A total of 43 808 articles were identified. The time trend of the number of articles showed an increase of 2.95-fold between 1996 and 2010. Western Europe and northern America were the most productive world areas, producing 52.4% and 23.1% of the available literature, respectively. The USA published the most articles, followed by the UK and Germany. The USA, the UK and the Netherlands had the highest h-indices (169, 137 and 117, respectively) and ranked about the same when total citations were used. However, Ireland had the highest average citations per article (48.33), followed by Denmark (40.19) and the Netherlands (39.86). Positive associations between the total number of publications/citations and population/GDP were observed (P < 0.01). Scandinavian countries ranked the highest after adjusting for population and GDP.

CONCLUSION

The USA and Western Europe clearly dominate the production of scientific publications in rheumatology. However, some smaller European countries have high scientific output relative to their size.