Top 100 influential manuscripts in obstructive sleep apnea: a bibliometric analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the characteristics of the top 100 influential manuscripts on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). METHODS: All manuscripts in English were searched from the Thomson Reuters Web of Science database by using OSA-related terms and ranked based on citation frequency. The top 100 influential manuscripts were selected and further analyzed by author, subject, journal, year of publication, country of origin, and institution. RESULTS: A total of 42,878 manuscripts were searched from the Web of Science. The top 100 influential manuscripts were published from 2005 to 2017, with a total citation frequency of 38,463 and a median citation frequency of 303 (range: from 210 to 2, 707). The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine published the largest number of manuscripts from the top 100 (n = 18; 5340 citations), followed by Sleep (n = 11; 3516 citations) and Chest (n = 7; 1784 citations). The most cited manuscript (Marin, J.M et al., Lancet 2005; 2707 citations) mainly analyzed long-term cardiovascular outcomes in men with OSA with/without continuous positive airway pressure. The most prevalent subject was associated diseases (n = 41), followed by treatments (n = 40). Most of the manuscripts were original articles (n = 63) based on observational clinical studies and published from American institutions (n = 60). CONCLUSIONS: Our study identified the top 100 influential manuscripts on OSA and provides insights into the characteristics of the most highly cited manuscripts to improve our understanding and management of OSA.

Stakeholder theory and management: Understanding longitudinal collaboration networks.

This paper explores the evolution of research collaboration networks in the 'stakeholder theory and management' (STM) discipline and identifies the longitudinal effect of co-authorship networks on research performance, i.e., research productivity and citation counts. Research articles totaling 6,127 records from 1989 to 2020 were harvested from the Web of Science Database and transformed into bibliometric data using Bibexcel, followed by applying social network analysis to compare and analyze scientific collaboration networks at the author, institution and country levels. This work maps the structure of these networks across three consecutive sub-periods (t1: 1989-1999; t2: 2000-2010; t3: 2011-2020) and explores the association between authors' social network properties and their research performance. The results show that authors collaboration network was fragmented all through the periods, however, with an increase in the number and size of cliques. Similar results were observed in the institutional collaboration network but with less fragmentation between institutions reflected by the increase in network density as time passed. The international collaboration had evolved from an uncondensed, fragmented and highly centralized network, to a highly dense and less fragmented network in t3. Moreover, a positive association was reported between authors' research performance and centrality and structural hole measures in t3 as opposed to ego-density, constraint and tie strength in t1. The findings can be used by policy makers to improve collaboration and develop research programs that can enhance several scientific fields. Central authors identified in the networks are better positioned to receive government funding, maximize research outputs and improve research community reputation. Viewed from a network's perspective, scientists can understand how collaborative relationships influence research performance and consider where to invest their decision and choices.

Representation of Ethics in the Plastic Surgery Literature: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: A 2009 systematic review demonstrated that ethical discourse was underrepresented in the plastic surgery literature; approximately one in 1000 articles contained ethical discussions. In the decade since, advances in plastic surgery and continued social progress have created new ethical dilemmas. However, it is unclear whether these developments have augmented the representation of ethics in the plastic surgery literature. A review of publications over the past decade can assess whether progress has been made and identify where deficits persist. METHODS: The authors searched eight bibliographic databases to identify peer-reviewed articles discussing ethical issues in plastic surgery over the past decade. Independent reviewers extracted characteristics and ethical principles from included articles. RESULTS: A total of 7097 articles were identified from the initial search and 531 articles were included for analysis. The principle of autonomy, present in 87.9 percent of articles, had the greatest representation, followed by beneficence (74.4 percent), nonmaleficence (72.3 percent), and justice (51.2 percent). Informed consent and face transplantation were the most prevalent topics discussed. Aesthetic surgery was the subdiscipline of plastic surgery with the greatest ethical discourse, representing 29.8 percent of all included articles. CONCLUSIONS: In the past decade, there was approximately a five-fold increase in plastic surgery publications that include ethical discourse, indicating a growing awareness of ethical implications by the plastic surgery community. However, representation of ethical principles remained uneven, and specific subdisciplines of plastic surgery were substantially underrepresented. Plastic surgeons should adopt a more comprehensive approach when framing ethical implications in clinical and research settings.

Visualising the past to plan the future: a network analysis of the largest European dermatology conference.

BACKGROUND: The annual conference of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology is one the largest dermatology conferences worldwide. OBJECTIVES: Network analysis can be used for in-depth insight into trending topics and underlying trends at the congress. MATERIALS & METHODS: Network analysis was employed to assess the entirety of the submitted abstracts to the congress in 2019. The data were processed, analysed, and visualised using easy-to-understand network graphs. Topics were then compared to their respective global burden (Disease Adjusted Life Years [DALYs]) and the number of respective publications on PubMed in the year 2018. RESULTS: Overall, 1,280 lecture titles and 1,941 poster titles were included in the final analysis. The most frequently used terms were "patients" (n = 473), "treatment" (n = 301), and "psoriasis" (n = 335). Relative to DALYs, "psoriasis" (+21.9%) among others, was rather over-represented, while "fungal skin diseases" (-7.6%) and "urticaria" (-6.4%) were under-represented. Compared to the relative number of PubMed publications in 2018, "psoriasis" (+20.3%), "acne" (+7.9%), and "alopecia" (+3.1%) were over-represented, while "melanoma" (-22.5%), "dermatitis" (-4.2%) and "pruritus" (-3.4%) were rather under-represented. CONCLUSION: The network analysis showed that the congress was a patient and therapy-centred event. An explanation for the particular focus on chronic inflammatory skin diseases and melanoma would be the introduction of new therapies at the congress. To delineate trends over time, a longitudinal network analysis including several congresses should be conducted and could be used to determine additional topics to be included in future events.

A prospective comparison of evidence synthesis search strategies developed with and without text-mining tools.

OBJECTIVE: We compared the process of developing searches with and without using text-mining tools (TMTs) for evidence synthesis products. STUDY DESIGN: This descriptive comparative analysis included seven systematic reviews, classified as simple or complex. Two librarians created MEDLINE strategies for each review, using either usual practice (UP) or TMTs. For each search we calculated sensitivity, number-needed-to-read (NNR) and time spent developing the search strategy. RESULTS: We found UP searches were more sensitive (UP 92% (95% CI, 85-99); TMT 84.9% (95% CI, 74.4-95.4)), with lower NNR (UP 83 (SD 34); TMT 90 (SD 68)). UP librarians spent an average of 12 h (SD 8) developing search strategies, compared to TMT librarians' 5 hours (SD 2). CONCLUSION: Across all reviews, TMT searches were less sensitive than UP searches, but confidence intervals overlapped. For simple SR topics, TMT searches were faster and slightly less sensitive than UP. For complex SR topics, TMT searches were faster and less sensitive than UP searches but identified unique eligible citations not found by the UP searches.

COVID-19 and suicides in India: A pilot study of reports in the media and scientific literature.

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to analyze reports of COVID-19 related suicides (CRS) to identify associated factors with a broader goal to inform management and prevention strategies. METHODS: We searched scientific literature, government websites and online newspaper reports in English and nine regional languages to identify relevant CRS reports. RESULTS: A total of 151 CRS reports were retrieved. CRS was more frequently reported among males (80.8%), those whose COVID status was unknown (48.0%), and those in quarantine/isolation (49.0%). CONCLUSION: The above findings may assist identification of at-risk individuals for COVID-19 related suicidal behavior.

Use of a search summary table to improve systematic review search methods, results, and efficiency.

BACKGROUND: Systematic reviews are comprehensive, robust, inclusive, transparent, and reproducible when bringing together the evidence to answer a research question. Various guidelines provide recommendations on the expertise required to conduct a systematic review, where and how to search for literature, and what should be reported in the published review. However, the finer details of the search results are not typically reported to allow the search methods or search efficiency to be evaluated. CASE PRESENTATION: This case study presents a search summary table, containing the details of which databases were searched, which supplementary search methods were used, and where the included articles were found. It was developed and published alongside a recent systematic review. This simple format can be used in future systematic reviews to improve search results reporting. CONCLUSIONS: Publishing a search summary table in all systematic reviews would add to the growing evidence base about information retrieval, which would help in determining which databases to search for which type of review (in terms of either topic or scope), what supplementary search methods are most effective, what type of literature is being included, and where it is found. It would also provide evidence for future searching and search methods research.

Gene-Centric Database Reveals Environmental and Lifestyle Relationships for Potential Risk Modification and Prevention.

The database at Nutrigenetics.net has been under development since 2007 to facilitate the identification and classification of PubMed articles relevant to human genetics. A controlled vocabulary (i.e., standardized terminology) is used to index these records, with links back to PubMed for every article title. This enables the display of indexes (alphabetical subtopic listings) for any given topic, or for any given combination of topics, including for genes and specific genetic variants. Stepwise use of such indexes (first for one topic, then for combinations of topics) can reveal relationships that are otherwise easily overlooked. These relationships include environmental and lifestyle variables with potential relevance to risk modification (both beneficial and detrimental), and to prevention, or at least to the potential delay of symptom onset for health conditions like Alzheimer disease among many others. Thirty-four specific genetic variants have each been mentioned in at least ≥1,000 PubMed titles/abstracts, and these numbers are steadily increasing. The benefits of indexing with standardized terminology are illustrated for genetic variants like MTHFR 677C-T and its various synonyms (e.g., rs1801133 or Ala222Val). Such use of a controlled vocabulary is also helpful for numerous health conditions, and for potential risk modifiers (i.e., potential risk/effect modifiers).

Machine learning reduced workload with minimal risk of missing studies: development and evaluation of a randomized controlled trial classifier for Cochrane Reviews.

OBJECTIVES: This study developed, calibrated, and evaluated a machine learning classifier designed to reduce study identification workload in Cochrane for producing systematic reviews. METHODS: A machine learning classifier for retrieving randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was developed (the "Cochrane RCT Classifier"), with the algorithm trained using a data set of title-abstract records from Embase, manually labeled by the Cochrane Crowd. The classifier was then calibrated using a further data set of similar records manually labeled by the Clinical Hedges team, aiming for 99% recall. Finally, the recall of the calibrated classifier was evaluated using records of RCTs included in Cochrane Reviews that had abstracts of sufficient length to allow machine classification. RESULTS: The Cochrane RCT Classifier was trained using 280,620 records (20,454 of which reported RCTs). A classification threshold was set using 49,025 calibration records (1,587 of which reported RCTs), and our bootstrap validation found the classifier had recall of 0.99 (95% confidence interval 0.98-0.99) and precision of 0.08 (95% confidence interval 0.06-0.12) in this data set. The final, calibrated RCT classifier correctly retrieved 43,783 (99.5%) of 44,007 RCTs included in Cochrane Reviews but missed 224 (0.5%). Older records were more likely to be missed than those more recently published. CONCLUSIONS: The Cochrane RCT Classifier can reduce manual study identification workload for Cochrane Reviews, with a very low and acceptable risk of missing eligible RCTs. This classifier now forms part of the Evidence Pipeline, an integrated workflow deployed within Cochrane to help improve the efficiency of the study identification processes that support systematic review production.

Using Embase as a supplement to PubMed in Cochrane reviews differed across fields.

OBJECTIVE: Medline/PubMed is often first choice for health science researchers when doing literature searches. However, Medline/PubMed does not cover the health science research literature equally well across specialties. Embase is often considered an important supplement to Medline/PubMed in health sciences. The present study analyzes the coverage of Embase as a supplement to PubMed, and the aim of the study is to investigate if searching Embase can compensate for low PubMed retrieval. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: The population in this study is all the included studies in all Cochrane reviews from 2012 to 2016 across the 53 Cochrane groups. The analyses were performed using two units of analysis (study and publication). We are examining the coverage in Embase of publications and studies not covered by PubMed (25,119 publications and 9,420 studies). RESULTS: The results showed that using Embase as a supplement to PubMed resulted in a coverage of 66,994 publications out of 86,167 and a coverage rate of 77.7, 95% CI [75.05, 80.45] of all the included publications. Embase combined with PubMed covered 48,326 out of 54,901 studies and thus had a coverage rate of 88.0%, 95% CI [86.2, 89.9] of studies. The results also showed that supplementing PubMed with Embase increased coverage of included publications by 6.8 percentage points, and the coverage of studies increased by 5.5 percentage points. Substantial differences were found across and within review groups over time. CONCLUSION: The included publications and studies in some groups are covered considerably better by supplementing with Embase, whereas in other groups, the difference in coverage is negligible. However, due to the variation over time, one should be careful predicting the benefit from supplementing PubMed with Embase to retrieve relevant publications to include in a review.

Use and reporting of risk of bias tools in 825 systematic reviews of acupuncture: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the use and reporting of risk of bias (RoB) tools in systematic reviews (SRs) of acupuncture. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We extracted and analyzed information relating to RoB in acupuncture SRs via Medline, Embase and the Chinese CNKI (Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure), WanFang and VIP databases from their inception to 24 November 2017. Three subgroup analyses were used to check the influence of language, journal type and impact factor, following which we used descriptive analysis. RESULTS: We included 825 acupuncture SRs, of which 48% used the Cochrane RoB tool. Only 36% used the latest version of the Cochrane Handbook (version 5.1.0 at time of writing) with higher proportions among Cochrane SRs (65%) versus non-Cochrane SRs (34%), and high impact factor journals (58%) versus low or no impact factor journals (28% and 38%, respectively). In the last decade, there were notable increases in the use of the Cochrane RoB tool and Cochrane Handbook version 5.1.0, of 43% and 19%, respectively. Chinese-language SRs demonstrated proportionally higher tendencies to report an incorrect Cochrane Handbook version, increasing by 14% in the last 5 years. Additionally, 7% SRs did not report any results, and only 10% reported relatively complete and adequate RoB assessment. Cochrane SRs reported more complete assessments than Chinese-language or non-Cochrane English-language SRs. CONCLUSION: Use and reporting of RoB tools were suboptimal. Proportionally, use of the Cochrane RoB tool and Cochrane Handbook version 5.1.0 was low but rising. Our results highlight the prevalence and concerns of using unsuitable tools and the issue of incomplete RoB reporting. RoB tool application requires further improvement.

Análisis multinivel de la producción científica mundial sobre paternidad, desarrollo humano e igualdad de género / Multilevel analysis of global scientific production on parenthood, human development and gender equality

OBJETIVO: Comparar las diferencias en la producción científica mundial sobre paternidad y maternidad (cantidad, momento de inicio y evolución temporal), conocer la distribución geográfica internacional de artículos sobre paternidad, y examinar la relación del índice de desarrollo humano (IDH) y del índice global de brecha de género (IGBG) con el número de artículos sobre paternidad. MÉTODO: Análisis descriptivo de artículos sobre paternidad y maternidad de la base Scopus desde 1788 hasta 2016, y análisis longitudinal de 2006 a 2015 de la relación entre la producción científica sobre paternidad, el IDH y el IGBG, mediante un modelo multinivel con distribución de Poisson y parámetro extra-Poisson. RESULTADOS: Hay cuatro veces menos artículos sobre paternidad que sobre maternidad. Los artículos sobre paternidad se desarrollaron de forma más tardía, y la mayoría (85%) se publicaron en las dos últimas décadas, cuando se incrementaron en mayor proporción que los de maternidad. Se constatan desigualdades geográficas, con América del Norte, Europa y Oceanía a la cabeza. Hay una relación estadísticamente significativa entre el incremento del IDH y el IGBG de los países del mundo y el aumento de los artículos sobre paternidad. CONCLUSIONES: El conocimiento en torno a la paternidad y la maternidad es desigual. Resulta imprescindible desarrollar un conocimiento no parcelado, no dividido y no reduccionista en el ámbito reproductivo. Es necesario visibilizar a los hombres como padres en la esfera científica, romper estereotipos de género e incorporar la corresponsabilidad en la crianza en las políticas y en las prácticas sociales como una cuestión de derecho fundamental

OBJECTIVE: To compare worldwide differences in scientific production on fatherhood and motherhood (quantity, start time and evolution over time), to determine the international geographic distribution of articles on fatherhood, and, to examine the relationship between the human development index (HDI), the global gender gap index (GGGI), and the number of articles on fatherhood. METHOD: Descriptive analysis of articles on fatherhood and motherhood from the Scopus database 1788-2016, and longitudinal analysis 2006-2015 of the relationship between scientific production on fatherhood, the HDI and the GGGI, by means of a multilevel model with Poisson distribution and extra-Poisson parameter. RESULTS: We observed four times fewer articles on fatherhood than on motherhood. Articles on fatherhood were developed later than those on motherhood, and most (85%) were published in the last two decades, when they increased more than articles on motherhood. We identified geographical inequalities, with North America, Europe and Oceania leading the way. There is a statistically significant relationship between the increase in the HDI and the GGGI in world countries, and the increase in the articles on fatherhood. CONCLUSIONS: Socially built knowledge around fatherhood and motherhood is unequal. It is essential to develop non-parcelled, undivided and non- reductionist knowledge in the reproductive field. It is necessary to make men visible as fathers in the scientific sphere, to break gender stereotypes, and to incorporate childrearing co-responsibility in social policies and practices as a matter of right

Citations and metrics of journals discontinued from Scopus for publication concerns: the GhoS(t)copus Project.

Background: Scopus is a leading bibliometric database. It contains the largest number of articles cited in peer-reviewed publications . The journals included in Scopus are periodically re-evaluated to ensure they meet indexing criteria and some journals might be discontinued for publication concerns. These journals remain indexed and can be cited. Their metrics have yet to be studied. This study aimed  to evaluate the main features and metrics of journals discontinued from Scopus for publication concerns, before and after their discontinuation, and to determine the extent of predatory journals among the discontinued journals. Methods: We surveyed the list of discontinued journals from Scopus (July 2019). Data regarding metrics, citations and indexing were extracted from Scopus or other scientific databases, for the journals discontinued for publication concerns.  Results: A total of 317 journals were evaluated. Ninety-three percent of the journals (294/318) declared they published using an Open Access model. The subject areas with the greatest number of discontinued journals were  Medicine (52/317; 16%),  Agriculture and Biological Science (34/317; 11%), and  Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics (31/317; 10%). The mean number of citations per year after discontinuation was significantly higher than before (median of difference 64 citations, p<0.0001), and so was the number of citations per document (median of difference 0.4 citations, p<0.0001). Twenty-two percent (72/317) were included in the Cabell's blacklist. The DOAJ currently included only 9 journals while 61 were previously included and discontinued, most for 'suspected editorial misconduct by the publisher'. Conclusions: The citation count of journals discontinued for publication concerns increases despite discontinuation and predatory behaviors seemed common. This paradoxical trend can inflate scholars' metrics prompting artificial career advancements, bonus systems and promotion. Countermeasures should be taken urgently to ensure the reliability of Scopus metrics both at the journal- and author-level for the purpose of scientific assessment of scholarly publishing.

A validation study revealed differences in design and performance of search filters for qualitative research in PsycINFO and CINAHL.

OBJECTIVES: Search filters can support qualitative evidence of information retrieval. Various search filters are available for the bibliographic databases PsycINFO and CINAHL. To date, no comparative overview of validation results of search filters verified with an independent gold standard exists. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Identified search filters for PsycINFO and CINAHL were tested for plausibility. Gold standards were generated according to the relative recall approach using references included in an overview of systematic reviews of qualitative studies. All included references were collected and checked for indexing in PsycINFO and CINAHL. Validation tests for each search filter were conducted in both databases to determine whether the references of the gold standards could be retrieved or not. RESULTS: Twelve search filters for PsycINFO and fifteen for CINAHL were validated. The complexity and design of these search filters vary, as well as the validation results for the databases. When locating primary studies of qualitative research, the best sensitivity and precision ratio (among filters with a sensitivity of >80%) was achieved with a filter by McKibbon et al. for PsycINFO and a filter by Wilczynski et al. for CINAHL. CONCLUSION: Project-specific requirements and resources influence the choice of a specific search filter for PsycINFO and CINAHL.

Análisis cienciométrico de mayor impacto acerca del duelo y la pérdida en personas con discapacidad intelectual / Scientometric Analysis with the Greatest Impact on Grief and Bereavement of People with Intellectual Disability

El duelo puede definirse como el conjunto de procesos psicológicos y psicosociales que siguen a la pérdida de un ser querido con el que la persona en duelo estaba psicológicamente vinculada, tratándose de una reacción comportamental y emocional causada por la ruptura del vínculo afectivo y manifestándose en forma de sufrimiento. El presente estudio pretende analizar cienciométricamente la producción científica de mayor impacto sobre el duelo y la pérdida en personas con discapacidad intelectual en las principales bases de datos de carácter multidisciplinar: Scopus y Web of Science (WoS). Para ello se delimitaron tres descriptores: "grief", "bereavement" e "intellectual disability". El procedimiento se realizó mediante una búsqueda combinada a tres, analizando la información en torno a ocho variables: publicaciones entre los años 2009-2019, número de registros en la producción científica desde los años 2009 a 2019, número de registros por tipología de documentos publicados, número de registros por títulos de las fuentes procedentes de la literatura científica de mayor impacto, número de registros por países, número de registros por instituciones, número de registros por autores y número de citas en artículos. Los resultados muestran que nos encontramos con un campo científico en vías de desarrollo. Es importante trabajar en investigaciones para conocer de manera detallada las características en el proceso de duelo, junto a una herramienta de uso profesional que ayude a determinar las necesidades de apoyo de las personas con discapacidad intelectual

Grief can be defined as the set of psychological and psychosocial processes that follow the loss of a loved one with whom the grieving person was psychologically linked, being a behavioral and emotional reaction caused by the breakdown of the emotional bond manifesting itself in a way of suffering. The present study intends to scientifically analyze the scientific production with the greatest impact on grief and bereavement of people with intellectual disabilities in the main multidisciplinary data-bases: Scopus and Web of Science (WoS), for this purpose three descriptors were delimited: "grief", "bereavement" and "intellectual disability". The procedure was carried out by means of a combined search by triplets, analyzing the information around eight variables: publications between the years 2009-2019, number of records in the scientific production from the years 2009 to 2019, number of records by type of documents published, number of records by titles of the sources from the scientific literature, number of records by countries, number of records by institutions, number of records by authors and number of citations in articles. The results show that we find a scientific field in development. It is important to work in research to know in detail the characteristics in the grieving process, together with a professional use tool that helps determine the support needs of people with intellectual disabilities

Cochrane Centralised Search Service showed high sensitivity identifying randomized controlled trials: A retrospective analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) is compiled from a number of sources, including PubMed and Embase. Since 2017, we have increased the number of sources feeding into CENTRAL and improved the efficiency of our processes through the use of application programming interfaces, machine learning, and crowdsourcing.Our objectives were twofold: (1) Assess the effectiveness of Cochrane's centralized search and screening processes to correctly identify references to published reports which are eligible for inclusion in Cochrane systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). (2) Identify opportunities to improve the performance of Cochrane's centralized search and screening processes to identify references to eligible trials. METHODS: We identified all references to RCTs (either published journal articles or trial registration records) with a publication or registration date between 1st January 2017 and 31st December 2018 that had been included in a Cochrane intervention review. We then viewed an audit trail for each included reference to determine if it had been identified by our centralized search process and subsequently added to CENTRAL. RESULTS: We identified 650 references to included studies with a publication year of 2017 or 2018. Of those, 634 (97.5%) had been captured by Cochrane's Centralised Search Service. Sixteen references had been missed by the Cochrane's Centralised Search Service: six had PubMed-not-MEDLINE status, four were missed by the centralized Embase search, three had been misclassified by Cochrane Crowd, one was from a journal not indexed in MEDLINE or Embase, one had only been added to Embase in 2019, and one reference had been rejected by the automated RCT machine learning classifier. Of the sixteen missed references, eight were the main or only publication to the trial in the review in which it had been included. CONCLUSION: This analysis has shown that Cochrane's centralized search and screening processes are highly sensitive. It has also helped us to understand better why some references to eligible RCTs have been missed. The CSS is playing a critical role in helping to populate CENTRAL and is moving us toward making CENTRAL a comprehensive repository of RCTs.

Profiling Clinical Research Activity at an Academic Medical Center by Using Institutional Databases: Content Analysis.

BACKGROUND: It is important to monitor the scope of clinical research of all types, to involve participants of all ages and subgroups in studies that are appropriate to their condition, and to ensure equal access and broad validity of the findings. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a review of clinical research performed at New York University with the following objectives: (1) to determine the utility of institutional administrative data to characterize clinical research activity; (2) to assess the inclusion of special populations; and (3) to determine if the type, initiation, and completion of the study differed by age. METHODS: Data for all studies that were institutional review board-approved between January 1, 2014, and November 2, 2016, were obtained from the research navigator system, which was launched in November 2013. One module provided details about the study protocol, and another module provided the characteristics of individual participants. Research studies were classified as observational or interventional. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the characteristics of clinical studies across the lifespan, by type, and over time. RESULTS: A total of 22%-24% of studies included children (minimum age <18 years) and 4%-5% focused exclusively on pediatrics. Similarly, 64%-72% of studies included older patients (maximum age >65 years) but only 5%-12% focused exclusively on geriatrics. Approximately 85% of the studies included both male and female participants. Of the remaining studies, those open only to girls or women were approximately 3 times as common as those confined to boys or men. A total of 56%-58% of projects focused on nonvulnerable patients. Among the special populations studied, children (12%-15%) were the most common. Noninterventional trial types included research on human data sets (24%), observational research (22%), survey research (16%), and biospecimen research (8%). The percentage of projects designed to test an intervention in a vulnerable population increased from 17% in 2014 to 21% in 2015. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric participants were the special population that was most often studied based on the number of registered projects that included children and adolescents. However, they were much less likely to be successfully enrolled in research studies compared with adults older than 65 years. Only 20% of the studies were interventional, and 20%-35% of participants in this category were from vulnerable populations. More studies are exclusively devoted to women's health issues compared with men's health issues.

How have excessive electronics devices and Internet uses been concerned? Implications for global research agenda from a bibliometric analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Excessive use of electronic devices has become a major global problem. However, little is known about the development and current landscape of research concerning this field. This study aimed at exploring the overall publication trend and topics of research on the overuse of electronic devices and the Internet from 1971 to 2017. METHODS: We systematically searched the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases for published articles on the excessive use of electronic devices and the Internet. Data regarding the publication volume, international collaborations, and geographical locations were analyzed by bibliometrics analysis. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was undertaken to categorize publications into different research topics. RESULTS: A total of 2,276 papers from the WOS and 600 papers from the Scopus were included. We found a dramatic increase in the number of scientific papers towards addiction to electronic devices and the Internet. The United State led in all publication parameters including the total number of papers and total citations. China, Korea and Taiwan were among the most prolific countries/regions. Smartphone addiction was the main concern, and the relationship between the overuse of electronic devices and the Internet and mental health issues have been highlighted. On the other hand, our study found a limited appearance of discussion on effective treatment and intervention. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The findings of this study call for more national and international cooperation in evaluating and intervening addiction to electronic devices and the Internet to gather more knowledge about this phenomenon and evaluate the effectiveness of treatment.

Few evaluative studies exist examining rapid review methodology across stages of conduct: a systematic scoping review.

OBJECTIVES: The objective is to identify studies that have assessed methodological shortcuts for undertaking rapid reviews (RRs) and mapping these to review conduct stages and Methodological Expectations of Cochrane Intervention Reviews (MECIR) guidance. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We conducted a systematic scoping review. We searched multiple databases (e.g., MEDLINE, Embase), which were supplemented by grey literature searching. Methods were defined a priori in a published protocol. RESULTS: Out of 1,873 records, 90 publications were divided into four RR categories: formal evaluation (n = 14), development, which included four subcategories (n = 65), comparison (n = 2), and applying reporting guidelines/critical appraisal tools (n = 3), and a systematic review surrogate category (n = 6). Four formal evaluation studies were composite evaluations, including more than one shortcut simultaneously. The remaining 10 studies evaluated viable (e.g., including English-only publications) and unviable (e.g., single-reviewer screening) shortcuts, covering five key dimensions and five 'other' (e.g., involving stakeholders) considerations while conducting a review. Because of complexities around shortcuts evaluated, only a cursory mapping to MECIR criteria was possible. CONCLUSION: Some methods shortcuts may be valid in the context of RRs, but limitations in the studies may limit their applicability. The results will serve to inform discussions within Cochrane regarding possible future implementation of RRs.