Global Landscape of the Attack of Predatory Journals in Oncology.

PURPOSE: Open-access publishing expanded opportunities to give visibility to research results but was accompanied by the proliferation of predatory journals (PJos) that offer expedited publishing but potentially compromise the integrity of research and peer review. To our knowledge, to date, there is no comprehensive global study on the impact of PJos in the field of oncology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 29 question-based cross-sectional survey was developed to explore knowledge and practices of predatory publishing and analyzed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression. RESULTS: Four hundred and twenty-six complete responses to the survey were reported. Almost half of the responders reported feeling pressure to publish from supervisors, institutions, and funding and regulatory agencies. The majority of authors were contacted by PJos through email solicitations (67.8%), with fewer using social networks (31%). In total, 13.4% of the responders confirmed past publications on PJo, convinced by fast editorial decision time, low article-processing charges, limited peer review, and for the promise of academic boost in short time. Over half of the participants were not aware of PJo detection tools. We developed a multivariable model to understand the determinants to publish in PJos, showing a significant correlation of practicing oncology in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and predatory publishing (odds ratio [OR], 2.02 [95% CI, 1.01 to 4.03]; P = .04). Having previous experience in academic publishing was not protective (OR, 3.81 [95% CI, 1.06 to 13.62]; P = .03). Suggestions for interventions included educational workshops, increasing awareness through social networks, enhanced research funding in LMICs, surveillance by supervisors, and implementation of institutional actions against responsible parties. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of predatory publishing poses an alarming problem in the field of oncology, globally. Our survey identified actionable risk factors that may contribute to vulnerability to PJos and inform guidance to enhance research capacity broadly.

Association of reviewer experience with discriminating human-written versus ChatGPT-written abstracts.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if reviewer experience impacts the ability to discriminate between human-written and ChatGPT-written abstracts. METHODS: Thirty reviewers (10 seniors, 10 juniors, and 10 residents) were asked to differentiate between 10 ChatGPT-written and 10 human-written (fabricated) abstracts. For the study, 10 gynecologic oncology abstracts were fabricated by the authors. For each human-written abstract we generated a ChatGPT matching abstract by using the same title and the fabricated results of each of the human generated abstracts. A web-based questionnaire was used to gather demographic data and to record the reviewers' evaluation of the 20 abstracts. Comparative statistics and multivariable regression were used to identify factors associated with a higher correct identification rate. RESULTS: The 30 reviewers discriminated 20 abstracts, giving a total of 600 abstract evaluations. The reviewers were able to correctly identify 300/600 (50%) of the abstracts: 139/300 (46.3%) of the ChatGPT-generated abstracts and 161/300 (53.7%) of the human-written abstracts (p=0.07). Human-written abstracts had a higher rate of correct identification (median (IQR) 56.7% (49.2-64.1%) vs 45.0% (43.2-48.3%), p=0.023). Senior reviewers had a higher correct identification rate (60%) than junior reviewers and residents (45% each; p=0.043 and p=0.002, respectively). In a linear regression model including the experience level of the reviewers, familiarity with artificial intelligence (AI) and the country in which the majority of medical training was achieved (English speaking vs non-English speaking), the experience of the reviewer (ß=10.2 (95% CI 1.8 to 18.7)) and familiarity with AI (ß=7.78 (95% CI 0.6 to 15.0)) were independently associated with the correct identification rate (p=0.019 and p=0.035, respectively). In a correlation analysis the number of publications by the reviewer was positively correlated with the correct identification rate (r28)=0.61, p<0.001. CONCLUSION: A total of 46.3% of abstracts written by ChatGPT were detected by reviewers. The correct identification rate increased with reviewer and publication experience.

The Purpose of Journal Peer Review Is to Make Articles Better.

Authors may have the misconception that the purpose of peer review is to serve as an arbiter or referee, or in other words, to make a binary, Accept After Revision versus Reject, decision whether an article will be published in our journal. In truth, although making that difficult decision is part of the process, it is only a part. The principal goal of peer review is to make articles better.

The Peer Review System: A Journal Editor's 30-Year Perspective.

The peer review system has become the standard by which scientific articles are refereed. Unfortunately, even from its beginnings in the mid-1800s it has been fraught with difficulties. Potential reviewers are volunteers who may be inundated with requests to review yet these reviews take considerable time and effort. There is little motivation to complete a review causing significant delays in the publication process. There may be biases unintentionally built into the system between reviewers, authors, editors, and journals. Attempts to overcome these biases by various blinding schemes have been met with limited success. Finally, the recent advent of Artificial Intelligence has the potential to completely upend the system, for good or bad.

Use of Open Science Practices in Surgical Journals.

This cross-sectional study assesses the level of adoption of 5 new tools that promote high quality and transparency in surgical research.

Protocolo de revisão de escopo: aperfeiçoamento do guia PRISMA-ScR / Scoping protocol review: PRISMA-ScR guide refinement

Objetivo: Clarificar informações sobre o checklist PRISMA-ScRe orientar, de forma detalhada, os itens para aperfeiçoamento do protocolo de revisão de escopo. Métodos: Revisão bibliográfica da literatura, com análise de estudos relacionados ao tema, via portal PubMed e sitedo Instituto Joanna Briggs, em agosto de 2022. Realizou-se a síntese dos achados e recomendações para refinamento da descrição do método. Resultados: O material analisado possibilitou a elaboração de recomendações para aprimoramento do protocolo em sete itens do PRISMA-ScR: Título, Resumo, Objetivos, Pesquisa, Seleção das fontes de evidência, Síntese dos resultados e Resultados esperados. Conclusão: Ao destacar e clarificar as fases da construção do protocolo da revisão de escopo, baseado no PRISMA ScR, obteve-se a construção de um modelo transparente e reproduzível. Descritores: Revisão; Métodos; Revisão da pesquisa por pares

Objective: To clarify information about the PRISMA-ScR checklist and provide detailed guidance on items for improvement of the scoping review protocol.Methods: Literature review, with analysis of studies related to the topic, via the PubMed portal and the Joanna Briggs Institute website, in August 2022. A synthesis of the findings and recommendations for refinement of the method description were performed.Results: The analyzed material enabled the elaboration of recommendations for improvement of the protocol in seven items of PRISMA-ScR: Title, Summary, Objectives, Research, Selection of sources of evidence, Summary of results, and Expected results.Conclusion: By highlighting and clarifying the phases of the construction of the scoping review protocol, based on PRISMA ScR, we obtained the construction of a transparent and reproducible model. Descriptors: Review; Methods; Peer review, research

Tips and tricks for how to become a good reviewer.

Peer review is an essential process to ensure that scientific articles meet high standards of methodology, ethics and quality. The peer-review process is a part of the academic mission for physicians in the university setting. The work of reviewers is of great value for authors, as it gives constructive criticism and improves manuscript quality before publication. Often, however, reviews are of suboptimal quality. Usually, reviewers do not receive formal training either on how to perform a review or on the peer-review process. In addition, it is generally believed that experienced authors are great reviewers, but this may not always be true. The overarching goal of a review is to make the manuscript better; to help the authors. The purpose of this article is to offer relevant suggestions and provide a checklist on how to perform a useful review.

Estrategia para la gestión de las Investigaciones en Servicios y Sistemas de Salud. Villa Clara. 2017-2020 / Strategy for managing Investigations in Health Systems and Services. Villa Clara. 2017-2020

Introducción: Las Investigaciones en Servicios y Sistemas de Salud constituyen un componente esencial para lograr mayor eficiencia y efectividad del sistema de salud, sin embargo, su utilización es insuficiente. Objetivo: Desarrollar una estrategia para la gestión de las Investigaciones en Servicios y Sistemas de Salud. Métodos: Se realizó una intervención organizacional en la Dirección de Ciencia e Innovación Tecnológica de la Universidad de Ciencias Médicas de Villa Clara, desde el año 2017 hasta marzo de 2020. Participaron 52 directivos de Asistencia Médica Provincial, metodólogos, vicedirectores docentes y 46 profesionales que cursaron maestrías. La investigación se llevó a cabo en tres etapas: La primera, el diagnóstico organizacional para identificar las principales problemáticas en la gestión de los servicios, la segunda, dedicada a los talleres metodológicos sobre la Investigación en Servicios y Sistemas de Salud y la tercera, correspondió a la evaluación de los resultados mediante el registro de proyectos en este campo, y los aportes de las tesis de maestrías, respecto a la solución de los problemas identificados en los servicios de salud. Las técnicas utilizadas fueron: La observación, la entrevista, la revisión de documentos, el grupo focal y la lluvia de ideas. Resultados: Se identificaron 221 proyectos de investigación en este campo, y la ejecución y evaluación de 46 tesis de maestrías, con resultados satisfactorios en la solución de las problemáticas de salud estudiadas. Conclusiones: La estrategia desarrollada posibilitó la gestión de proyectos de investigación en Servicios y Sistemas de Salud, y la ejecución de tesis de maestrías para solucionar problemas prioritarios.

Introduction: investigations in Health Systems and Services constitute an essential component to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness; however, its use is still insufficient. Objective: to develop a strategy for managing investigations in Health Systems and Services. Methods: an organizational intervention was carried out in the Directorate of Science and Technological Innovation at the University of Medical Sciences of Villa Clara, from 2017 to March 2020. Fifty-two managers of the Provincial Medical Assistance, methodologists, teaching vice-directors and forty-six professionals who took master's degrees participated. The investigation was carried out in three stages; the first, referring to the organizational diagnosis to identify the main problems in the management of services; the second, dedicated to methodological workshops on Investigations in Health Systems and Services and the third ones, corresponded to the evaluation of the results, through the registration of projects in this field and the contributions of the master's theses, regarding the solution of the identified problems. Observation, interview, document review, focus group and brainstorming were the techniques used. Results: a number of 221 research projects were identified in this field, as well as the execution and evaluation of 46 master's theses, with satisfactory results in the solution of the health problems studied. Conclusions: the developed strategy made possible the management of research projects in Health Systems and Services, and the execution of master's theses to solve priority problems.

Racial Health Disparities Research in Cardiothoracic Surgery Under-represented in Major Meetings.

INTRODUCTION: Black/African Americans and Latinos face significant health disparities and systemic inequities. Heart and lung disease are leading factors affecting morbidity and mortality in these groups. Given this disparity, we sought to determine how often this topic is presented at the most relevant United States annual cardiothoracic surgery meetings. METHODS: Specialty-specific annual meeting abstract books were queried between 2015 and 2021. We included the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, American Association for Thoracic Surgery, Western Thoracic Surgical Association, and the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association. Scientific abstract titles and content were searched for the following keywords and phrases: "racial health disparities," "race," "racism," "racial bias," "institutional racism," and "health disparities". If an abstract included a keyword or phrase, it was counted as a racial health disparity abstract. We calculated the proportion of racial health disparity abstracts and abstracts published as manuscripts in the meeting-associated journals. RESULTS: A total of 3664 abstracts were presented between 2015 and 2021. Of those, 0.90% (33/3664) abstracts presented contained at least one of the keywords or phrases. Of these abstracts, the percentage that went on to publication represented 0.38% (14/3664) of the total number of abstracts presented. CONCLUSIONS: Abstracts on racial health disparities in cardiothoracic surgery represent a very small fraction of total meeting peer-reviewed content. There is a significant gap in research to identify and develop best practice strategies to address these disparities and mitigate structural racism within the care of underserved patients with cardiothoracic diseases.

Valoración de una metodología para integrar software educativo en la asignatura Rehabilitación estomatológica / Assessment of a methodology to integrate educational software in Stomatological Rehabilitation Subject

Introducción: Al elaborar una metodología resulta importante obtener los criterios de expertos antes de su aplicación. En un periodo precedente a esta investigación se elaboró una metodología con etapas y procedimientos para el desarrollo de software educativo. Objetivo: Valorar la pertinencia de la metodología para la integración de software educativo en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de las asignaturas Rehabilitación I y II de Estomatología. Método: Se realizó una investigación pedagógica en la Universidad de Ciencias Médicas de Holguín. Para valorar la pertinencia de la metodología se aplicó el método Delphi, a partir del cual, mediante una encuesta aplicada a 17 expertos seleccionados por su alto coeficiente de competencia en la temática, se pudo llegar a un consenso sobre el tema explorado. Resultados: La aplicación del cuestionario reveló que la mayoría de los expertos consideró cada indicador de la dimensión validez como muy adecuado, solo uno evaluó el indicador etapas de la metodología como adecuado y los procedimientos de la etapa dos como bastante adecuados. Para la dimensión viabilidad casi la totalidad consideró muy adecuados los indicadores factibilidad de aplicación y posibilidad de generalización; esta última fue evaluada por un experto como adecuada. Al comparar los resultados de los siete indicadores con los puntos de corte se aprecia que los expertos en su conjunto los definen como muy adecuados. Conclusiones: La pertinencia de la metodología se constató con el criterio consensuado de los expertos, quienes consideraron muy adecuados los aspectos valorados, y realizaron aportes que permitieron perfeccionarla antes de su implementación. Sobre estas bases no fue necesaria una segunda etapa de aplicación del método(AU)

Introduction: When developing a methodology, it is important to obtain the criteria of experts before its application. In a period preceding this research, a methodology with stages and procedures was defined for the development of educational software. Objective: To assess the relevance of the methodology for the integration of educational software in the teaching-learning process of the subjects Rehabilitation I and II of Stomatology. Method: A pedagogical research was carried out at the University Of Medical Sciences Of Holguín. To assess the relevance of the methodology, the Delphi method was applied, from which, through a survey applied to 17 experts selected for their high coefficient of competence in the subject, a consensus could be reached on the explored topic. Results: The application of the questionnaire revealed that most of the experts considered each indicator of the validity dimension as very adequate; only one evaluated the indicator stages of the methodology as adequate and the procedures of stage two as quite adequate. For the feasibility dimension, almost all considered the feasibility of application and possibility of generalization indicators to be very adequate; the latter was evaluated by an expert as adequate. When comparing the results of the seven indicators with the cut-off points, it can be seen that the experts as a whole define them as very adequate. Conclusions: The relevance of the methodology was verified with the agreed criteria of the experts, who considered the aspects evaluated to be very adequate, and made contributions that allowed it to be perfected before its implementation. On these bases, a second stage of application of the method was not necessary(AU)