Global Rank Research Articles

The effects of outdated data and outliers on Kenya’s 2019 Global Food Security Index score and rank

The effects of outdated data and outliers on Kenya’s 2019 Global Food Security Index score and rank

Honeybee (Apis spp.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Colony Monitoring Using Acoustic Signals from the Beehive: An Assessment by Global Experts and Our Feedback

Because the sounds emitted by a managed honeybee colony embrace a wealth of information about the status within and outside the beehive, researchers are interested in developing a beehive sound-based assessment of the colony situation. However, how the global experts rank this approach is unclear. We assessed the importance of beehive sound-based colony monitoring using formal expert elicitation. Our results indicate that policy-making bodies should focus on a non-invasive acoustic approach to monitor swarming, honeybee health, pesticides, and environmental pollution at apiaries, as these were considered very important factors with high confidence by global experts. Moreover, all other factors (pests and pathogens, weather conditions, predators, food availability, and spatiotemporal patterns) are rated as important, but experts’ confidence in acoustically monitoring a few of the factors differs. Because experienced forager bees emit bursting sounds during the waggle dance (particularly during the waggle-run phase) at a specific angle on a vertical comb within the hive, we propose an acoustics-based recording setup using a Raspberry Pi and a QuadMic Array to investigate how this sound can predict the spatial and temporal information of the available food sources. In this article, we highlight how the factors falling into the inconclusive category of confidence have the potential to be acoustically monitored. Besides, this paper suggests new and unexplored directions for opening a window for future research in beehive acoustics.

Pesticide Utilization in Myanmar and effects on Human Health and Environment

Human health and environmental hazards associated with pesticide handling are common in developing countries, as farmers and agricultural workers frequently lack proper personal protective equipment and may be unable to understand labels with safety instructions. Importation, distribution, use, storage, and disposal of pesticides. Pesticide utilization globally is increasing every year and Myanmar pesticide utilization is also increasing year by year. Its global rank of utilization is 86 and the quantity of pesticide application dosage is 1.4 kg per hectare. Although Myanmar's pesticide application rate per hectare is not as high as in other countries, ignorance of the pre-harvest interval after pesticide application, failure to follow labeling guidelines, calibration, misuse, and improper disposal pose a serious threat to human health and the environment. The goal of this review paper is to examine the uses and application of pesticides in Myanmar to raise awareness about pesticide misuse and to understand the negative effects of pesticides on human health and the environment. Pesticide misuse is a severe problem in agricultural productivity, putting farmers' health and environment at hazard. Pesticide impacts on the environment have a long-term effect on human life, according to numerous studies, it persists in the environment with long-term negative effects. As a result, pesticide management should be strictly regulated for the whole supply chain process of pesticides.

Ediacaran turbidites as geoheritage: Potential of the Itajaí Basin, Southern Brazil

Discovery and inventory of geoheritage remain urgent tasks for Brazil. Investigations in the state of Santa Catarina have allowed to realize the uniqueness of exposures of the Ediacaran turbidites of the Itajaí Basin. Their outcrops along the federal highway BR-470 in the valley of the Itajaí-Açu River have been examined to establish four geoheritage sites (geosites), namely Apiúna, Bergamota, Colibri, and Ibirama. Each of them has been studied in regard to the geological context and geoheritage properties. Geological descriptions and the related genetic interpretations of each geosite are provided. It appears that they represent different parts and different aspects of the regional Ediacaran turbidite system. The key localities are true geosites, which can be neither be combined into a single lengthy geosite nor considered as fully separate objects due to their evident similarity. For such kinds of geoheritage, a new idea of geosite series is proposed. The studied geosite series is dominated by sedimentary and paleogeographical geoheritage types, and it can be ranked nationally (the global rank is not excluded). The geosites are linear and point (punctual) sites, and most of them are artificial. A potential danger to them is linked to road maintenance, but there may also be damages from rockfalls, vegetation expansion, and irresponsibility of occasional visitors (rock graffiti and waste storage). A conservation plan should be developed to address these issues. This geosite series demonstrates significant potential for geological research and education linked to the Ediacaran world and turbidite sedimentation. Additionally, it can be exploited efficiently for training university students and company employees in dealing with turbidite hydrocarbon reservoirs. Further geoheritage exploration in the Itajaí Basin and the entire Santa Catarina State is recommended.

The impact of Canadian-produced research on the global orthopedic literature: a bibliometric analysis.

Little is known about the quality and impact of Canadian-produced research relative to that of other developed nations. The purpose of this study was to determine the contribution of Canadian authors to the orthopedic literature globally and nationally as well as Canada's research productivity in orthopedics. We hypothesized that Canada ranks among the most impactful countries in terms of orthopedic research productivity. We performed a bibliometric analysis to identify articles published between 2001 and 2020 in the category of orthopedics. We identified Canada's global rank in terms of overall productivity and assessed the contributions of individual Canadian authors. We also examined the quality of publications as determined by category normalized citation impact (CNCI) and publication in the top quartile of journals (%Q1) in terms of impact factor. In addition, we calculated the percentage of Canadian publications that were in orthopedics. We identified 10 821 orthopedic publications from 2001 to 2020. Canada placed sixth globally in terms of productivity in orthopedic research. The annual productivity of Canadian orthopedic researchers increased over the study period by a factor of 3.2. In terms of research quality, with a %Q1 of 36.5% and a CNCI of 1.22, Canada outperformed Asian countries and the United States; the latter country had a %Q1 of 35.3% and a CNCI of 1.14 over the study period. The body of Canadian orthopedic literature has grown consistently over the past 20 years. Despite the overall leadership of the United States and other developed nations such as China and Japan, Canada ranks among the most influential countries in terms of the quality and quantity of orthopedic research.

6. The Influence of Integrated vs Independent Pathway and Hospital Type on Plastic Surgery Post-Residency Plans Unchanged by Global Pandemic

Background: Statements are often made about what percentage of plastic surgery (PRS) residents go into fellowship vs. private practice vs. academia after graduation. However, few objective studies have been completed. This project is designed to illuminate career choices of PRS residents immediately after graduation from 2018-2022 and secondarily, determine if the pandemic had any measurable impact. Methods: Publicly available data was obtained from institution websites or program queries. Demographic data was collected including sex/gender, training pathway, primary residency, length of training, and post-residency fellowship vs private practice job vs academic job vs military appointment. Comparison of percentages between pre-Covid and post-Covid (2018-19 vs 2020-22), training pathways (independent vs integrated), institution type (private vs public) and program rank (per Doximity) were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test. P values were 2-sided and comparisons with P < 0.01 were considered significant. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS software. Results: Data was collected for 691 graduates across 64 training programs (28% independent, 71% integrated). Most graduates pursued fellowship-training (61%) followed by 28% direct to private practice, 5% direct to academic practice and 1% assumed a military post. Independent residents were more likely to pursue private practice (40%vs.26%, p=0.001), while integrated residents were more likely to pursue additional fellowship training (49%vs70%, p<0.0001). Public institution graduates are more likely to go into private practice (37%vs.23%, p=0.0002), while private institution residents are more likely to pursue fellowship (55%vs.72%, p<0.0001). However, pandemic (p=0.31) and institutional rank (p=0.11) showed no association. Conclusion: In this report, we present career choice trends amongst PRS trainees. We found independent residents more likely to pursue private practice, perhaps due to prolonged training period (minimum 8 years vs 6 years), while integrated residents were more likely to pursue fellowship training. Public/State institution graduates were more likely to pursue private practice, potentially influenced by more exposure to community faculty than trainees in private academic settings. This study demonstrates that training pathway and institution type have a significant impact on post-graduation plans, whereas global pandemic and institutional rank do not. This information can be used by programs and students as they plan for the future.

Image restoration via wavelet-based low-rank tensor regularization

Low-rank models have been widely applied for visual analysis. However, the conventional global low rank on a single whole image and the patch-level low rank have difficulty in perfectly preserving dependence (or correlation) and the latent structures in the image. Inspired by recent advances in low-rank tensor analysis, a wavelet-based low rank tensor regularization model (WLTR) is proposed in this work. Utilizing the fact that the coefficients of an image under wavelet transform exhibit sparsity, the low-rank regularization can be obtained by imposing the nuclear norm constraint on the tensor composed of wavelet subbands coefficients. Considering all structure information of intrascale and interscale coefficients under the tensor representation, the proposed method characterizes the local and global elements in a unified manner. To make the proposed WLTR tractable and robust, the alternative direction of multiplier method (ADMM) is adopted to efficiently and effectively solve this convex optimization problem. Extensive experiments on various types of image restoration problems, including inpainting, deblurring and denoising, validate WLTR outperforms several existing state-of-the-art approaches in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio and visual quality.

Evaluation of the benefit of rivaroxaban on VOYAGER PAD primary composite of limb, heart and brain outcomes using the global rank and win ratio methods

Abstract Background/Introduction The VOYAGER PAD trial demonstrated that rivaroxaban 2.5 mg twice daily added to background antiplatelet therapy reduced a composite of irreversible harm events of the heart limb and brain versus placebo in patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease (PAD) after lower extremity revascularization. The primary analysis was performed as time to first event with equal weighting of components including fatal and non-fatal events. Purpose Traditional time to event analyses of composites generally assess outcomes with equal weights. Analyses evaluating outcomes using ranked or weighted methods may provide clinicians a mechanism to interpret results including different weighting and enable shared decision making with patients. Methods Exploratory analyses of the primary composite outcome were prespecified prior to trial completion/database lock. Two previously described approaches to evaluate composite outcomes by ranking or weighting were utilized. The first was the global rank method which includes ranking all components of the composite by order of clinical importance (Table 1) with a primary and alternative ranking prespecified. Each patient is assigned a rank with the worse rank for worse outcome and for patients with the same outcome, those occurring earlier assigned the worse rank. Van Elteren test for differences between groups was applied stratified by type of procedure and clopidogrel use consistent with the primary trial analysis. The second was the unmatched win ratio method according to Pocock's rule which ranked CV death higher than non-fatal events and then compared pairs of subjects, one from each treatment group for wins and losses for wins and losses as outlined in Table 1. Finkelstein and Schoenfeld statistics were utilized with confidence intervals provided from bootstrapping. Results A total of 6564 patients were randomized and all outcomes through the common study end date were counted. The global rank method using both the primary and alternative method yielded a statistically significant superior effect of rivaroxaban versus placebo (p-value for primary ranking 0.0158, p-value for alternative ranking 0.0155). When using the win-ratio approach, there were more wins for rivaroxaban (14.8%) than placebo (12.8%) with 72.4% of patients having no primary component events (Figure 1). The overall win ratio was 1.16 95% CI (1.03–1.30) in favor of rivaroxaban with p=0.0167. Conclusion(s) Rivaroxaban significantly reduces acute limb ischemia, amputation, MI, ischemic stroke or CV death in PAD after lower extremity revascularization. Exploratory analyses of this efficacy composite show consistent superiority either when considered as a ranked hierarchy of outcomes with CV death as the worst or whether considering a win-ratio approach ranking CV death as worse followed by non-fatal events. These data support the robustness of the primary trial results when considering ranking of the composite components. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Private grant(s) and/or Sponsorship. Main funding source(s): Bayer

DAYA SAING KOMODITAS PERTANIAN UNGGULAN INDONESIA: PERBANDINGAN DENGAN NEGARA LAIN DI ASEAN DAN POTENSINYA

&lt;em&gt;Abundant natural resources become a great potential for the Indonesian agricultural sector if they are managed properly. A large contribution from the agricultural sector is highly dependent on its superior commodities. However, liberal international trade creates a real challenge for leading commodities in the agricultural sector to have high competitiveness, at least in the ASEAN region. This study aims to analyze the export competitiveness of Indonesia's leading agricultural sector commodities and analyze the potential for improvement. The commodities analyzed were coffee, pepper, palm oil, tea, and tobacco. The data used is data on export conditions in 2019. The analysis is carried out using Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), Revealed Comparative Trade Advantage (RCTA), and Porter's diamond. The results of the analysis show that Indonesia's leading commodities have competitiveness in the global market and rank at the top in ASEAN based on RCA. RCTA shows that Indonesia's tea and tobacco commodities are not yet competitive in the global market. Porter's diamond shows that the competitiveness of Indonesia's leading agricultural commodities has the potential to be developed.&lt;/em&gt;

An Evaluation of Non-Uniform Grade Distribution with the Emergency Medicine Off-Service Standardized Letters of Evaluation.

Introduction: Standardized Letters of Evaluation (SLOEs) are designed to objectively compare medical students to their peers for completed emergency medicine (EM) rotations to be used in the EM residency match. In an attempt to adapt quickly to the lack of availability of in-person EM rotations due to COVID restrictions, “off-service” SLOEs (OSLOEs) were allowed in place of traditional SLOEs. The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of OSLOEs for candidate selection during the 2020-21 application cycle at a single EM residency.Methods: A retrospective cohort review of all OSLOEs submitted during the 2020-21 academic year to an EM residency program was performed. A total of 270 OSLOES were eligible for review. Summary statistics were calculated for the study variables recorded, including global rank, grade, categorical details, and rank.Results: Of the 270 OSLOEs reviewed, 61.9% ranked candidates in the top 10% of their class, with 95% being ranked in the top two categories. Over 90% of students were graded as honors or high pass and over 75% of students were ranked in the top 1/3 for each specific OSLOE category.Conclusion: Our findings reveal questionable utility of the objective measures in the OSLOE as there are signs it may suffer from non-uniform grade distribution, leading to low utility for candidate selection. Our data shows marked over-ranking within the highest 2 categories. EM program directors and faculty should use caution as the OSLOE may not carry the same weight as a traditional SLOE when objectively evaluating prospective students for a match into EM.

Handle Matrix Rank Deficiency, Noise, and Interferences in 3D Emission-Excitation Matrices: Effective Truncated Singular-Value Decomposition in Chemometrics Applied to the Analysis of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds.

The characterization of organic compounds in polluted matrices by eco-friendly three-dimensional (3D) fluorescence spectroscopy coupled with chemometric algorithms constitutes a powerful alternative to the separation techniques conventionally used. However, the systematic presence of Rayleigh and Raman scattering signals in the excitation–emission matrices (EEMs) complicates the spectral decomposition via PARAllel FACtor analysis (PARAFAC) due to the nontrilinear structure of these signals. Likewise, the specific problem of selectivity in spectroscopy for unexpected chemical components in a complex sample may render its chemical interpretation difficult at first glance. The relevant chemical information can then be complicated to extract, especially if the raw data is noisy. There are several strategies to overcome these drawbacks, but weaknesses remain. As a consequence, a new alternative method is proposed to handle these interferences, the noise, and the rank deficiencies in the data and applied for the characterization of polycyclic aromatic compound (PAC) mixtures. It is based on effective truncated singular-value decomposition (MT-SVD) that does not require any prior knowledge of the raw data. The algorithm provides a valuable estimation of the global rank to choose on complex samples where selectivity problems are observed. It is a real alternative compared to other existing methods applied to the fluorescence matrix to filter the signal from noise or light scattering effects. The first exploratory results of the proposed algorithm are promising to handle matrix rank deficiencies as well as the effects of noise and light scattering on complex PAC mixtures.

Creating diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in cancer clinical research: Drive rank and Drive score.

e13636 Background: The inequalities in improving cancer mortality rates in the United States can be ascribed to treatment disparities that are largely due to unequal access to clinical trials in cancer care, resulting in adverse clinical and economic effects. D.R.I.V.E is a five-step strategy for promoting and improving DEIA in clinical trials for minority patients based on the following steps. Methods: Appointing a clinical trial Diversity Officer, creating a RANK SCORE based on minority enrollment, Individual diversity plan, Verification of study diversity, and Elevate and Enhanced training of minority investigators and research team members. Results: Global Performance Indicators (GPIs), which rate and rank states relative to one another, shape decisions. Rankings should be reported by authors and required for publication in peer-reviewed journals and should be included in journal impact factor assessment. Conclusions: DRIVE aims to use these strategies to correct inequalities and promote the overall health of mankind, using proven principles and techniques to create meaningful improvements in cancer care and outcomes. DRIVE RANK), based on the achievement of minority participant representation relative to the epidemiology of disease, is an informational tool to evaluate DEIA efforts and provide a readily accessible measurement of the applicability of clinical data to all patient subgroups with the potential to force positive changes to promote DEIA and the health of mankind. We propose a ranking of 0-5 for diversity (Table). Establish a corporate ranking system (DRIVE SCORE) based on the diversity of clinical data from the totality of studies of the company to inform the choice of ethical investors. Studies will be ranked at the next lower rank if all criteria for next higher rank are not reached.[Table: see text]

Impact of Non-DRR NGOs’ interventions for community-based DRR mainstreaming in Bangladesh

Presently, there is a worldwide discussion concerning the role of NGOs in addressing community-based disaster risk reduction. Global indices rank Bangladesh as the world’s fifth most hazard-prone nation. Natural hazards are an ever-present concern for rural farmers and coastal communities of the country, with limited access to infrastructure. More than 2,500 registered non-governmental organizations (NGOs) deliver community-level programs in Bangladesh; however, the majority of these NGOs are non-Disaster Risk Reduction (non-DRR) in their core business. This paper aimed to assess the role of their interventions in mainstreaming community-based DRR in Bangladesh. Researchers conducted a field study in Satkhira district, the most natural hazard-prone coastal zone in Bangladesh, and interviewed 45 respondents including community beneficiaries, local government bodies, and NGO officials using purposive sampling techniques. Authors also collected relevant documents of the selected NGOs, and analyzed them along with the primary data. For analyzing data, researchers used thematic analysis method with the assistance of NVivo12 software. Study findings reveal that many development programs of NGOs contributed to DRR through strengthening the communities’ capacity, but some program outcomes increased long-term vulnerability of the beneficiary community. NGOs could contribute to the communities’ resilience by including DRR principles and practices within their regular relief and development programs. It is expected that the study findings would provide directions to non-DRR NGOs for integrating DRR within their regular development programs. This would help manage the future hazard risks including overwhelming damage to lives, properties, livelihoods, and structures and build capacity rather than increase vulnerability in communities.

Defining Metrics for Short Term Success After LVAD Implant: An Analysis of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Intermacs Registry

<h3>Purpose</h3> While clinical trials evaluating left ventricular assist device (LVAD) technology typically use composite outcomes to assess efficacy, composite outcomes including patient reported outcomes (PROs) have not been utilized as benchmarks for LVAD implant center performance improvement initiatives or quality ranking. The objective of the study was to assess the feasibility of generating a patient composite outcome measure including PROs from a real world registry. <h3>Methods</h3> Short term (ST, 180 days) adverse events (AEs) and mortality were tallied for Intermacs patients undergoing LVAD implant between 1/2012 and 12/2019. ST postoperative events included mortality on first device and frequencies of stroke, reoperation (device malfunction/other), right heart failure (RHF), prolonged respiratory failure, and/or dialysis on first device. Logistic regression was used to generate odds ratios for mortality for each AE. Separately, the EuroQOL visual analog scale (VAS) was assessed at baseline and 180 days in ST survivors. <h3>Results</h3> Of 20,115 patients, 37% suffered at least one event, most commonly death, reoperation and stroke (Table, column A). Stroke, prolonged respiratory failure, and dialysis attributed the most to ST mortality (Table, column B). Of the 16725 patients alive at 180 days, 43% completed a VAS with 82.0% showing VAS improvement. Renal failure and RHF contributed most to failure to improve VAS (Figure). <h3>Conclusion</h3> Assessment of a ST composite outcome metric after LVAD implant from a real world data source is feasible but limited by incomplete PRO reporting. ST adverse events display differential effects on mortality and PROs that can be used in development of global rank outcome scores. While reoperation is common, stroke, prolonged respiratory failure and renal failure conferred highest risks of ST deaths within Intermacs. Assessment of PROs should become a priority for LVAD centers to allow the field to generate a complete assessment of patient-centered outcomes.

Booster or Stumbling Block? The Role of Environmental Regulation in the Coupling Path of Regional Innovation under the Porter Hypothesis

In the 2018 Global Environmental Performance Index, China’s global air quality rank was fourth from last, indicating a more pronounced conflict between the environment and development compared with other countries. Because of the vastness of China’s land area, the development of different regions is imbalanced. The achievement of the stipulated goal to be among the top innovative countries in the world by 2035 not only depends on the economically developed eastern part of China but also on the relatively economically underdeveloped central, western, and northeastern parts. In this context, this paper uses time-varying qualitative comparative analysis to explore how the coupling paths of environmental regulation affect regional innovation. The results show that: (1) In most cases at the overall level of China, the Porter hypothesis is supported, and environmental regulation can play the role of a “booster” and stimulate regional innovation. In a few cases, however, the Porter hypothesis is not supported. (2) The Porter hypothesis is also supported in most cases at the regional level, where environmental regulation is mostly a “booster” for regional innovation in the east, center, west, and northeast. (3) Comparison of regional heterogeneity shows that environmental regulation is more important for stimulating regional innovation in the east than in the center, west, and northeast. This study helps to identify the role of environmental regulation in regional innovation. Moreover, it also helps to understand the emphasis China placed on environmental management during the early stages of its economic development.

A randomized controlled trial of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitor management in patients admitted in hospital with COVID-19

BackgroundRenin-angiotensin aldosterone system inhibitors (RAASi) are commonly used among patients hospitalized with a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We evaluated whether continuation versus discontinuation of RAASi were associated with short term clinical or biochemical outcomes.MethodsThe RAAS-COVID-19 trial was a randomized, open label study in adult patients previously treated with RAASi who are hospitalized with COVID-19 (NCT04508985). Participants were randomized 1:1 to discontinue or continue RAASi. The primary outcome was a global rank score calculated from baseline to day 7 (or discharge) incorporating clinical events and biomarker changes. Global rank scores were compared between groups using the Wilcoxon test statistic and the negative binomial test (using incident rate ratio [IRR]) and the intention-to-treat principle.ResultsOverall, 46 participants were enrolled; 21 participants were randomized to discontinue RAASi and 25 to continue. Patients’ mean age was 71.5 years and 43.5% were female. Discontinuation of RAASi, versus continuation, resulted in a non-statistically different mean global rank score (discontinuation 6 [standard deviation [SD] 6.3] vs continuation 3.8 (SD 2.5); P = .60). The negative binomial analysis identified that discontinuation increased the risk of adverse outcomes (IRR 1.67 [95% CI 1.06-2.62]; P = .027); RAASi discontinuation increased brain natriuretic peptide levels (% change from baseline: +16.7% vs -27.5%; P = .024) and the incidence of acute heart failure (33% vs 4.2%, P = .016).ConclusionRAASi continuation in participants hospitalized with COVID-19 appears safe; discontinuation increased brain natriuretic peptide levels and may increase risk of acute heart failure; where possible, RAASi should be continued.

Unequal opportunities in Italian cardiovascular research: focus on gender.

Despite unanimous calls for more equitable access and support to female researchers, there are persistent barriers to women's career progression and professional fulfillment. These discriminative hurdles undermine female gender in science and have detrimental effects on research activities and female professionals and patients. There is no data on women's outlook in cardiovascular research in Italy, which limits appropriate remedial actions. We aimed at providing an updated perspective on top Italian cardiovascular researchers, focusing on women versus men comparisons. Top Italian cardiovascular researchers were retrieved from a dedicated and validated Scopus query. Researchers' sex was assigned according to the given name with a consensus process. Several metrics were compared, including global rank, total cites, total cites adjusted by academic age, H-index, and self-citation percentage. Bivariate and propensity score-adjusted analyses were used for inferential purposes. Our analysis shows the existence of a gender gap: the number of scientific articles published by Italian male researchers in their careers is significantly higher than their female counterparts (P=0.002). For men, the year of first publication is earlier (P=0.001); they also published more articles as a single author, or single + first author or single + first + last author. Men's papers cited at least once were more than those of women (P≤0.001), and the total number of citations was significantly higher for men (P=0.002). These results remain significant both in the analysis excluding self-citations as well as in the analysis including self-citations. The single-year analysis (2019) confirms the significance of the career analysis, adding that men have a higher rank based on composite score (P=0.041, or P=0.005 if including self-citation). Finally, men have a higher percentage of self-citation in 2019 than women (P=0.008). The gender disparity is still a limiting factor in Italian cardiovascular research. Despite career advancement, women continue to be underrepresented. Men retain more leadership positions in academia and maintain the edge for scientific work productions. More efforts are needed to ensure equity between men and women.

Toll-based access vs pirate access: a webometric study of academic publishers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to draw a comparison of the Web traffic ranking, usage and popularity of websites of databases of reputed publishers, namely, ScienceDirect and Emerald Insight, that provide access on subscription basis with Sci-Hub, on the basis of data obtained from Alexa databank (www.alexa.com). Sci-Hub is a website that provides pirated open-access to the research literature, where piracy, according to The Economic Times (2020), refers to the unauthorized duplication of copyrighted content.Design/methodology/approachUnder present study, the quantitative study of the collected data was carried out with help of descriptive research methodology. The Alexa databank was singled out as the source of data. This study crawled through Alexa databank on 01.12.2019 and collected relevant data regarding Sci-Hub, ScienceDirect and Emerald Insight using the search terms Sci-hub.tw, Sciencedirect.com and Emeraldinsight.com sequentially. Different criteria were taken into consideration, which include global traffic rank, the average number of page views per user, time taken for uploading, bounce rate, percentage of users, the number of in-links and daily time spent on the site.FindingsThe results of this study showed that ScienceDirect has the highest traffic rank and in-linking sites among the surveyed databases. But highest number of page visits were recorded for Sci-Hub with fastest downloading speed. It has also been observed that the users spent less time on ScienceDirect and Emerald Insight as compared to Sci-Hub. This study further observed that Sci-Hub has the lowest bounce rate. Users from both the developing and developed economies use the Sci-Hub, though the highest number of visitors belongs to the developing nations.Originality/valueThis study provides an overview of the performance of toll-based publishing databases with pirated database based on different criteria through World Wide Web. Though, this study in no way supports or endorses the unauthorized and illegal access to knowledge, but such data helps in depicting and analyzing how much a particular database is accessed by its users all over the globe and also determines and illustrates the time spent by users while accessing a specific database, thus, providing the user preferences in information seeking activities. This study provides an overall view of adoption of open resources.

Benchmarking Global Carrier Status in the Airline Industry

Over the past decade or so and through the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of airlines have risen to global prominence in Asia (especially China), the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and elsewhere. As each develops, many industry observers are questioning the extent to which these airlines will rival current industry heavyweights around the world. This paper aims to provide a basis for assessing what constitutes a major global carrier in the airline industry, including the likelihood of being so in the foreseeable future. Three key metrics are employed to gauge the global reach of an airline and its corresponding major global carrier status and rank: wide-bodied fleet size, the number of international destinations flown to, and continents served (squared for adequate amplification). Data are sourced from the Centre for Aviation (CAPA) airline database. The paper concludes that major global carrier status for an airline is best viewed in relation to key competitors including the ranking location of those directly above and below any given airline. This ranking approach is therefore about insights generated and is not premised on precise locations on a leader board.

The Impact of Entrepreneurship Financial Opportunities and Business Environment on the Country’s Innovation Development and National Wealth

The Covid-19 pandemic caused negative consequences for the economic growth and national wealth of countries worldwide. In 2020 the GDP per capita growth was -4,3% worldwide and -5% in Azerbaijan. However, in 2021, it was 4,8% and 5,1% in accordance, indicating Azerbaijan’s economic potential. At the same time, Azerbaijan takes only 80th place from 132 countries in the Global Innovation Index Rank, which is not sufficient and requires further innovation development of the country. Also, Azerbaijan is the 34th of 190 countries in the Ease of Doing Business rank. Still, according to the Enterprise Surveys made by the World Bank, 23,7% of firms in Azerbaijan choose access to finance as their biggest obstacle. At the same time, the average world indicator is 14,2%, and the average one in Europe and Central Asia is 9,4%. Therefore, this research aims to prove the hypothesis about the positive impact of entrepreneurship financial opportunities and the business environment on the country’s innovation development and national wealth. In the first stage, a bibliometric and analytical analysis was carried out using the tools of the Scopus database, the VOSviewer, and Google Trends. In the second stage, a sample of 20 countries was formed. It includes the top 10 leaders in the Global Innovation Index Rank with high-income economies (as benchmark countries for innovation development, according to which Azerbaijan should increase its position) and the top 10 leaders with upper-middle-income economies (similar to Azerbaijan). The informational base consists of data from the World Bank, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the World Economic Forum for the last 10 available years. In the third stage, the correlation analysis was made to identify the relationship between the indicators of entrepreneurship financial opportunities and business environment (financing of SMEs, venture capital availability, domestic credit to the private sector, ease of doing business, ease of starting a business, ease of getting credit, ease of resolving insolvency, protecting minority investors, number of new limited liability companies, new business density) and the indicators of the country’s innovation development (Global Innovation Index) and national wealth (total wealth per capita). And at the fourth stage, the impact of entrepreneurship financial opportunities and business environment on the country’s innovation development and national wealth was determined based on regression modeling results. The obtained results could be useful for scientists in further research on this issue and for government officials in improving the state’s economic policy.