Cent Of Papers Research Articles

Adolescent sexual and reproductive health research in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review of substantive focus, research volume, geographic distribution and Africa-led inquiry

BackgroundPrevious review studies have not systematically mapped the existing body of knowledge on adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Our scoping review addresses this gap by...

The runaway science: a bibliometric analysis of the COVID-19 scientific literature.

Background and aim of the work:To reflect on content, trends and quality of scientific publishing on COVID-19. In particular, to report on the systematic screening, quantitative assessment and critical appraisal of the first 10,000 scientific papers published on COVID-19 and to compare how scientific outputs matched identified research priorities and public health needs.Methods:A comprehensive research strategy was developed to systematically retrieve on a daily basis all studies published on COVID-19. From included studies we extracted: bibliometric parameters, country of studies’ implementation and study design. We assigned papers to 25 a priori defined COVID-19-related topics and we described scientific outputs in relation to countries’ academic publishing ranking, as well as COVID-19 burden.Results:10,000 scientific articles were published on COVID-19 between 20th January and 7th May 2020, accounting for 2.3% of total scientific production over the study period. One third (33%) focused on COVID-19 clinical management, with little adherence to identified research priorities. Over sixty per cent of papers were opinion pieces not reporting original data. Papers were published on 1881 different journals but with half of scientific production included in 8% of journals. The US accounted for one fourth of total scientific production, followed by China (22.2%) and Italy (9%).Conclusions:Never before in the history of academic publishing such a great volume of research focused on a single topic, this being likely to introduce major changes in the way science is produced and communicated, at the risk of bringing it far from its ultimate aim: informing clinical and public health practice and decision making. (www.actabiomedica.it)

Improving Impact Metrics of Open and Free Biodiversity Data through Linked Metadata and Academic Outreach

The work required to collect, clean and publish biodiversity datasets is significant, and those who do it deserve recognition for their efforts. Researchers publish studies using open biodiversity data available from GBIF—the Global Biodiversity Information Facility—at a rate of about two papers a day. These studies cover areas such as macroecology, evolution, climate change, and invasive alien species, relying on data sharing by hundreds of publishing institutions and the curatorial work of thousands of individual contributors. With more than 90 per cent of these datasets licensed under Creative Commons Attribution licenses (CC BY and CC BY-NC), data users are required to credit the dataset providers. For GBIF, it is crucial to link these scientific uses to the underlying data as one means of demonstrating the value and impact of open science, while seeking to ensure attribution of individual, organizational and national contributions to the global pool of open data about biodiversity. Every single authenticated download of occurrence records from GBIF.org is issued a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI). These DOIs each resolve to a landing page that contains details of the search parameters used to generate the download a quantitative map of the underlying datasets that contributed to the download a simple citation to be included in works that rely on the data the search parameters used to generate the download a quantitative map of the underlying datasets that contributed to the download a simple citation to be included in works that rely on the data When used properly by authors and deposited correctly by journals in the article metadata, the DOI citation establishes a direct link between a scientific paper and the underlying data. Crossref—the main DOI Registration Agency for academic literature— exposes such links in Event Data, which can be consumed programmatically to report direct use of individual datasets. GBIF also records these links, permanently preserving the download archives while exposing a citation count on download landing pages that is also summarized on the landing pages of each contributing datasets and publishers. The citation counts can be expanded to produce lists of all papers unambiguously linked to use of specific datasets. In 2018, just 15 per cent of papers based on GBIF-mediated data used DOIs to cite or acknowledge the datasets used in the studies. To promote crediting of data publishers and digital recognition of data sharing, the GBIF Secretariat has been reaching out systematically to authors and publishers since April 2018 whenever a paper fails to include a proper data citation. While publishing lags may hinder immediate effects, preliminary findings suggest that uptake is improving—as the number of papers with DOI data citations during the first part of 2019 is up more than 60 per cent compared to 2018. Focusing on the value of linking scientific publications and data, this presentation will explore the potential for establishing automatic linkage through DOI metadata while demonstrating efforts to improve metrics of data use and attribution of data providers through outreach campaigns to authors and journal publishers.

Editorial: Scholarly communications and corporate governance research

The role of scholarly conferences as a method of scholarly communications cannot be overestimated. Thus, Torgler and Piatti (2013) found that in 1974, only 19 per cent of papers published in American Economic Review had been presented at one or more conferences, workshops or seminars, for critical commentary prior to publication. On average, the number of presentations was 0.24 per paper. Twenty-five years later, 73 percent of the papers accepted for publication have been previously presented, and the mean number of pre-publication presentations was 4.73. Personal editorial and reviewing experience give a right to conclude that papers previously presented at the conferences have more serious scholarly content, solid empirical fundamentals and relevance. Scholarly journal reviewers are more favourable about such papers and it takes less time to receive the final approval of the reviewers for further publishing. Discussing the papers in an open manner at the conferences is welcome both by the authors of the papers as well as the commenting scholars adding more enthusiasm for further research. International conference "New Challenges in Corporate Governance: Theory and Practice"1 took place in Naples on October 3-4, 2019.2 About 80 experts from America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania gathered at the conference venue to discuss relevant issues of corporate governance, ownership and control, share their most recent research and come up with the solutions of the existing corporate governance research

Reporting in stapes surgery: are we following the guidelines?

This paper highlights the importance of reporting air-bone gap closure in stapes surgery according to the American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery guidelines and reviews compliance in recent years. A retrospective case series was conducted and the outcomes were reviewed. Closure of the air-bone gap was calculated in 204 adult patients using the aforementioned guidelines. Results were recalculated ignoring the Carhart phenomenon to determine any significant difference. Adherence to guidelines was also reported as a secondary outcome. Ignoring the Carhart phenomenon resulted in 75 per cent over-reporting of successful air-bone gap closure (p < 0.001). Over-reporting occurred in 5.9 per cent of papers, and in 11.8 per cent it was difficult to determine how the results were reached. Despite the existence of clear guidelines, stapes surgery outcomes are still being over-reported as successful. This can lead to incorrect information being provided to patients during the consent process and makes comparative studies difficult.

Reflections on geography's daily blessings

Each day, I walk with two small dogs around one large circuit that begins in a car park on Queen's Walk at the southern end of Cornelian Bay on Hobart's western shore. To start, our walk is on smooth sandstone gravel. To our left, which is really west‐ish in orientation, we wander past public toilets, a barbeque area, a restaurant popular with locals and tourists, and an adventure playground. On weekends and before and after school drop‐off and pick‐up times, the playground is packed and rowdy; generally, when I am walking it is deserted. Several metres on, we reach a second carpark adjacent to another undercover barbeque area, and beyond that, bearing north, is the old cemetery.

Library and information science research in BRICS countries

PurposeThis paper aims to highlight the research output of library and information science of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations during the ten year period, i.e. 2005-2014, as reflected through the Web of Science database.Design/methodology/approachThis study used Social Science Index (SSCI) of Web of Science (WoS) citation database to collect data for the ten year period. All records indexed in SSCI were refined by subject area of “Information Science and Library Science” and selected countries. The downloaded results were analyzed by using specific parameters.FindingsWoS indexes different kinds of documents, such as articles, conference proceedings, biographical items, book reviews, corrections, editorial material, letters, reprints and reviews. Out of the BRICS output, almost 90 per cent of papers were articles. Other types of documents included conference papers, review papers and book reviews. China contributed nearly half of the documents followed by Brazil, South Africa, India and Russia. On an average, a document had cited 34 references. More than one-third of records did not receive any citations. It has been observed that the titles that had 11-16 words attracted the most number of citations. The top ten publishers in whose journals the researchers published included Emerald, Elsevier and Springer. The primary subject areas were information science and library science, information systems, interdisciplinary applications and management. About 85 per cent of the documents were published in English. Around 93 per cent of the non-English research publications were in Portuguese, the official language of Brazil.Originality/valueThere are not many studies on BRICS countries and that too about Library and Information Science (LIS) research output. This study may reveal insights into how LIS researchers interact with local and global issues in a specific spectrum of the world community.

Publication trends in a high impact journal: the case of World Psychiatry

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the bibliometric characteristics of papers published in a high impact journal World Psychiatry during the period 2006-2015.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this study were obtained from Thompson Reuters’ “Web of Science”. Publication details were extracted for the journal title “World Psychiatry”. This study covers authorship patterns, annual growth, impact factors, document types, top contributors, international collaborations, highly cited papers and keyword analyses. Software programs such as “Histcite”, “intcoll.exe”, “Pajek” and “Leximancer” were used to analyze the publications.FindingsMore than half of the publications were by editorial materials and number of publications from low and middle income countries is very low when compared to proportion of editorial board members. Almost 40 per cent of papers came from the USA and editorial board members had considerable number of papers. Kings College London led the institutions.Originality/valueAnalysis of high impact journals in the field of psychiatry has been carried out in a very few. Hence, the results of this study will be useful to compare with other journals.

Cancer and mental health—a clinical and research unmet need

BackgroundPoor mental health is the largest single source of disability in the UK, and co-morbid health problems, particularly with cancer, raise total health care costs significantly. MethodsThis study examined what research is being conducted into the intersection between cancer and mental health. Research papers captured by the intersection of sub-field filters—‘mental disorder’ and ‘cancer’—were studied from the Web of Science over a 10-year period (2002–2011). ResultsThere were 1463 papers dealing with the dual presence of cancer and mental disorder. They amounted to 0.26% of cancer research and 0.51% of mental health research over the 10-year period, indicating that their intersection receives little research attention. Eighty per cent of papers were concerned with the effects of cancer on mental health rather than the reverse; a few (5%) looked at the post-traumatic stress suffered by carers of cancer patients. Of cancer types, breast dominated (21%), followed by prostate (5%), lung (3%), oral (2%) and colorectal (2%) cancer. The area of mental health most studied in cancer was unipolar depression. ConclusionsThe paucity of research that exists at the intersection of cancer and mental health requires attention from policymakers and funders in order to address an important trans-disciplinary gap in health care research.

A systematic review investigating the efficacy of laterally wedged insoles for medial knee osteoarthritis

A conservative management strategy for knee osteoarthritis is the lateral wedge insole (LWI). The theoretical basis for this intervention is to correct tibiofemoral malalignment, thereby reducing pain and optimising function. This systematic review evaluates the evidence on the effectiveness and safety of LWI for the treatment for knee osteoarthritis. A systematic review was performed, searching published (MEDLINE, AMED, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library) and unpublished literature from their inception to August 2012. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were included that compared the use of LWI with a neutral insole or control intervention for people with medial compartment osteoarthritis. Risk of bias and clinical relevance were assessed, and outcomes were analysed through meta-analysis. From a total of 3,105 citations, 10 studies adhered to the a priori eligibility criteria. These included 1,095 people; 535 participants were allocated to receive LWI insoles compared to 509 in control groups. Eight per cent of papers were of high quality with low risk of bias. There was no statistically significant difference between LWI and neutral insoles for pain, function, analgesic requirement, compliance or complications (p ≥ 0.07). Those who received LWI demonstrated lower non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug requirements (p < 0.001). To conclude, there is limited evidence to support the prescription of LWI to people with medial compartment osteoarthritis to reduce pain and increase function. However, there remains a paucity of evidence to determine whether LWI outcomes differ in subgroups of the patients, such as severe compared to mild osteoarthritis, obese patients, or whether the angle of LWI is of clinical importance.

Pacific Island publications in the reproductive health literature 2000–2011: With New Zealand as a reference

There is a keen interest to develop research systems and increase research output in the 14 Pacific Island Forum Countries (PIFC) to support development of policies and practice based on locally relevant research evidence. To assess the quantity and characteristics of reproductive health research output by each country (14 PIFC) from 2000 to 2011 using New Zealand's reproductive research outputs as the reference. A systematic search of the literature using a broad definition of reproductive health. There were 174 papers published in the PIFC from 2000 to 2011 compared with 628 papers published in New Zealand (NZ). Most (57%) of the PIFC papers were from Papua New Guinea (PNG), although Samoa had the most papers by population (10/100,000). Five of the countries did not have a single publication. The majority of papers from both the PIFC and NZ were observational studies (72 vs 36%). Authors from Australia were responsible for 34% of PIFC publications followed by 25% from PNG. Sixty-three per cent of papers by PIFC sole and first authors were published in local journals, whereas 86% of non-PIFC authors published in international journals. There is a need for reproductive research in PIFC. PNG had the most publications on the back of a well-funded dedicated research institute and a significant collaboration with Australian researchers. The large number of papers in PIFC countries without PIFC authors raises the question about the need to require non-PIFC researchers to enter into genuine research partnerships in order to build research capacity in the PIFC.

The Role of Hypotheses in Biomechanical Research

This paper investigates whether there is a discrepancy between stated and actual aims in biomechanical research, particularly with respect to hypothesis testing. We present an analysis of one hundred papers recently published in The Journal of Experimental Biology and journal of Biomechanics, and examine the prevalence of papers which (a) have hypothesis testing as a stated aim, (b) contain hypothesis testing claims that appear to be purely presentational (i.e. which seem not to have influenced the actual study), and (c) have exploration as a stated aim. We found that whereas no papers had exploration as a stated aim, 58 per cent of papers had hypothesis testing as a stated aim. We had strong suspicions, at the bare minimum, that presentational hypotheses were present in 31 per cent of the papers in this latter group.

Silver alloy vs. uncoated urinary catheters: a systematic review of the literature

This systematic review aimed to determine whether there was enough evidence to conclude that silver-alloy urinary catheters reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections compared with silicone or latex urinary catheters in adult inpatients. Previous systematic reviews into the effectiveness of silver-coated urinary catheters have offered limited opportunity to transfer their findings into practice. These studies have been on North American products only, of generally poor quality, or several years since their completion (Brosnahan J, Jull A & Tracy C 2004, Cochrane Database Systematic Reviews, Issue 1, Art. No.: CD004013). Design. A systematic review of the literature was deemed the most appropriate research method to apply as there had already been several studies (Saint S, Veenstra DL, Sullivan SD, Chenoweth C & Fendrick AM 2000, Archives of International Medicine, 160, 2670-2675; Lai KK & Fontecchio SA 2002, American Journal of Infection Control, 30, 221-225; Schaeffer AJ 2005, The Journal of Urology, 173, 845-846) relating to the subject in question, although there were some queries regarding their methodological rigour. Randomised control trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses were identified by searching relevant databases. Relevant papers were judged against predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Ten per cent of papers were assessed by a second reviewer. Following the application of a numerical filtering tool, six papers were rejected and eleven papers were retained. Of the 11 papers retained, there were eight studies, as some studies published more than one paper. The integrated results did present a consistent pattern favourable towards the efficacy of silver-alloy urinary catheters to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infection. The collective evidence divulged an emerging pattern favouring the efficacy of silver-alloy urinary catheters to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infection. Owing to the poor quality of some individual studies included in other systematic reviews and the inability to carry out meta-analysis because of significant heterogeneity, definitive conclusions cannot be drawn from the study. Given the significant prevalence of catheter-associated urinary tract infection, early indications of improved infection rate outcomes using silver-alloy urinary catheters should not be dismissed.

Editorial

Editorial

Scientific publishing: a case study of Libyan scientists

PurposeThe paper aims to report on a research project that explores the extent and scope of scientific publishing, communication, and collaboration amongst Libyan scientists.Design/methodology/approachThe paper commences with a literature review on scientific communication and publishing, including a specific focus on such activities in developing countries. A bibliometric analysis of the papers published by scientists in research centres affiliated to Libya's National Centre for Scientific Research was conducted in order to investigate the extent and nature of scholarly communication of Libyan scientists.FindingsLibyan scientists are a community that works in research teams, largely comprised of scientists in Libya, but, which, on the other hand, is actively disseminating the findings of its research to a wider international audience. This is evident from the publications of 45 per cent of papers in English, and a significant level of publication in countries outside Libya. Further, the extent to which publication is through conferences and symposia is evidence of engagement in informal communication within and beyond the scientific community in Libya.Originality/valueThis is the first study of scientific publishing and communication activities in Libya. It offers useful insights into a variety of aspects of communication and dissemination of research findings. As such it provides a useful contribution towards understanding the potential impact of new models of scholarly publishing, both in Libya, and in other developing countries.

Scientometric Dimensions of Thorium Research in lndia

This paper attempts to provide detailed quantitative analysis of Indian contributions on thorium in terms of publications output as per International Nuclear information System database during 1970-2004. A total of 2399 papers were published by the Indian scientists in the field of thorium. There were only nine publications in 1970. Thereafter, a steady growth was observed except for the period 1983-1985. The highest papers (188) were! published in the year 2000. USA with 8049 (28.05 per cent) and India with 2399 (8.30 per cent) publications were the top two countries who published work on thorium. Authorship and collaboration trend was towards multi-authored papers as 85.70 per cent of the papers were collaborative. There were 79 international collaborative papers. Bilateral collaboration accounted for 90.14 per cent of total collaborative papers. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai topped the list with 1251 authorships followed by Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam with 168, Atomic Minerals Division, Hyderabad with 71, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar with 43 and Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata with 31 authorships, respectively. The journals most preferred by the scientists for publication of papers were: Journal of the Indian Chemical Society with 78 papers, followed by the Indian Journal of Chemistry A with 60 papers, Bulletin of Radiation Protection with 56 papers, Journal of Radio Analytical and Nuclear Chemistry with 54 papers, Radiation Protection and Environment with 37 papers, Exploration and Research for Atomic Minerals and Journal of Geological Society of India with 35 papers each. English was the most predominant language used by the scientists for communication. The high frequency keywords were: thorium (559), uranium (316), thorium oxides (269), India (257), solvent extraction (236), quantitative chemical analysis (221) and thorium 232 (202).

Editorial

Given the continuing pressures on academics to publish their research work in high quality publications, we find that authors are required to provide their institutions with increasingly more detailed information about the journals in which their papers appear. One frequently asked question relates to rejection rates. On average, fewer than fifty per cent of papers submitted to ReCALL are accepted. For example, in the current year 2005, 45 papers were submitted, of which 16 were published.

Editors' report 2004

Editors' report 2004

Time management in GDSS: a satisficing model

Focuses on time reduction in meetings through the use of group decision support systems (GDSS). Reports on some criticisms of GDSS, in that it increases time taken to reach a decision, and addresses this issue. Refers to Grosch’s Law, the Satisficing Model, and the 80/20 rule (or Pareto Principle). Applies the 80/20 rule to the number of papers published by a number of authors. Plots a chart of the figures and finds that 77 per cent of papers are written by 23 per cent of authors. Links back these findings to GDSS and suggests that by controlling openness, some control can be exercised over the length of time it takes to reach a decision. Indicates that the use of electronic meeting systems will increase and, consequently, further research should be carried out in reducing uproductive meeting time.

Unit Roots and Cointegration Analysis: The Impact on Empirical Analysis in Economics

The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the impacts of the theoretical literature relating to unit roots and cointegration on empirical analysis in economics. The results of a survey of time-series-related empirical papers in seven journals in 1995 indicate that about 40 per cent and 30 per cent of papers include tests for unit roots and cointegration, respectively. In testing for unit roots, the Augmented Dickey-Fuller procedure is clearly the most commonly used test. In testing for cointegration, the closely related Engle-Granger procedure is the most commonly used test but its dominance is not as pronounced.