Tracing the wider impacts of biomedical research: A literature search to develop a novel citation categorisation technique

There is an increasing need both to understand the translation of biomedical research into improved healthcare and to assess the range of wider impacts from health research such as improved health policies, health practices and healthcare. Conducting such assessments is complex and new methods are being sought. Our new approach involves several steps. First, we developed a qualitative citation analysis technique to apply to biomedical research in order to assess the contribution that individual papers made to further research. Second, using this method, we then proposed to trace the citations to the original research through a series of generations of citing papers. Third, we aimed eventually to assess the wider impacts of the various generations. This article describes our comprehensive literature search to inform the new technique. We searched various databases, specific bibliometrics journals and the bibliographies of key papers. After excluding irrelevant papers we reviewed those remaining for either general or specific details that could inform development of our new technique. Various characteristics of citations were identified that had been found to predict their importance to the citing paper including the citation’s location; number of citation occasions and whether the author(s) of the cited paper were named within the citing paper. We combined these objective characteristics with subjective approaches also identified from the literature search to develop a citation categorisation technique that would allow us to achieve the first of the steps above, i.e., being able routinely to assess the contribution that individual papers make to further research.Medical Research Council as part of the MRC-NIHR Methodology Research Programme, and Professor Martin Buxton

A bibliometric study of taxonomic botany

AIMS — The aims were: to investigate the citation-patterns of monograph books in taxonomic botany (looking mainly at publications and publishers, and the age of current literature); to provide information for collections management and reference services in libraries that hold botany materials. METHOD — 454 citations were collected from 47 botanical monographs; Impact Factors of journals based on these citations were calculated and compared with conventional Impact Factors from ISI Web of Science; age-distributions of citations were drawn up; other analyses were also carried out. RESULTS — A small Bradfordian core of highly-cited journals was established; monograph Impact Factors were not useable; the important publishers of monograph books were identified; monographs were more often cited than journal articles; older materials were more important than in other sciences; monographs were used by botanists for current awareness purposes; coverage of botanical journals by citation indexes was inadequate. CONCLUSIONS — Librarians should: note the core botanical journals identified here; note the importance of British journals to British botanists; continue to acquire botanical monographs and to retain older materials; display new botanical monographs prominently and include them in current awareness services. PROBLEMS — The small size of the sample means that results were merely indicative. Further studies should: take larger samples; look at citations in journal articles, theses, conference proceedings, etc.; look at citations made over several years. ORIGINALITY — The bibliometrics of taxonomic botany have previously been little studied; likewise citations from monographs. Some of the bibliometric methods of J. M. Cullars were applied to botanical literature

Why Is This Link Here? Identifying Academic Web Interlinking Motivations in Nigerian Universities

This paper investigates the university websites of Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation. Its aim is to identify motivations why authors embed outbound hyperlinks on these websites. A classification scheme for academic web interlinking motivations was applied to over 5,000 hyperlinks pointing from the websites of 107 Nigerian universities. Classifying the motivations based on studying the source and target pages is a big challenge, especially due to the following three reasons: there could be many possible reasons available; guessing the true intentions of link creators could be a difficult task; multiple link creation motivations could exist. The pioneer application of Pearson's chi-square test of independence offers a better picture of motivations. The chi-square test identifies the significant differences in interlinking motivations, which are peculiar to Nigerian universities of a particular category (federal, state and private universities). The study is a stepping stone toward further research on feasibility of findings in other developing countries. Results obtained from this research will be of great use for academic webpage developers and web authors, and will modify their work towards improving the use of hyperlinks as one of the major communication tools on the Web

From bench to bedside: Tracing the payback forwards from basic or early clinical research – A preliminary exercise and proposals for a future study

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Chapter 1 : Introduction • The members of the research team from HERG and the Wellcome Trust have conducted previous studies showing that it is possible both to assess the payback from applied health research, and to use bibliometrics to trace the links between generations of research and clinical guidelines. In another of the team’s studies, however, it proved difficult to replicate the major study by Comroe and Dripps (1976) that had identified clinical advances and then worked backwards to show that they had relied on earlier basic research. Therefore, the study reported here sets out to use the methods developed in our previous studies of payback to undertake analysis that starts with more basic or early clinical research and traces the research lines forwards to clinical applications. Whilst this preliminary study involved preparation for a future large-scale study, it was hoped that it would also provide an interesting case study. • Starting with the research outputs of one team 20 years ago, called the 1st generation papers, the preliminary study has three main elements: standard bibliometric analysis through several generations of papers; categorisation of the citations; and qualitative analysis using questionnaires, critical pathway analysis and interviews to trace the impact of the 1st generation of research. • Diabetes and cardiology were suggested as possible topics on which to base the study. Initial reviews identified two bodies of research in diabetes as being potentially suitable for reasons such as the continuing activity of key members of the team. • The research into diabetes conducted in 1981 by George Alberti and his team at Newcastle, and collaborators elsewhere, was selected to provide the case study for this preliminary stage for several reasons. It was thought to have been important science and there was a belief that some of it had made a contribution to clinical practice. Chapter 2 : Bibliometric analysis • An original plan to look at publications produced over a three year period was changed to looking at the output of just one year, 1981, because in that year alone Alberti and colleagues published 29 articles. These form the 1st generation papers and the average number of citations they received is high. Identifying the citations given to these 29 papers resulted in 799 2nd generation papers and 12,891 3rd generation papers. The numbers involved meant that it was impractical to go beyond the 3rd generation. Within the high overall average, the variation in the number of citations per paper was iii considerable going from 76 to just one. Similarly, the half-lives of the 29 papers, ie the time taken for an article to receive 50% of its citations, ranged from two years to 11. • Articles can be given a Research Level (ie one of four levels from clinical observation to basic) based on the journals in which they appear. Such analysis demonstrates the breadth of Alberti’s work because the 29 articles are spread across all four Research Levels. Crucially, there was not a shift from basic to more clinical levels across the generations. The higher than average number of authors and addresses per paper is testimony to Alberti’s extensive collaborations. • The funding acknowledgements reveal the high proportion of papers supported, at least partially, by one funder: the British Diabetic Association, now Diabetes UK, which provided core support for Alberti’s Newcastle team. Chapter 3 : Categorisation of citations • Traditional citation analysis does not allow identification of the importance of the cited article to the citing article, and therefore limits the ability to use citation analysis to trace the impact of basic or early research on later research. We conducted a review of the literature of the meaning of citations. • From this review, a template was devised that allowed the location, nature and importance of citations to be recorded as well as the type of research (basic or clinical) described in the paper. This was used by six assessors on a sample of papers and inter-rater reliability was tested. Further work is required to refine the template and its definitions, and to improve its consistency in application. • Nevertheless, for initial analysis, it was applied to 623 out of the 799 2nd generation papers. A four point scale was used for the importance of the cited paper to the citing paper. In just 9% of cases was the cited 1st generation paper thought to be in one of the top two categories, ie of Considerable or Essential importance to the citing paper. • Statistical analysis revealed no relationship between the number of citations a paper received and the proportion of citations where the cited paper was classified as being of high (ie. Considerable or Essential) importance to the citing paper. Self-citations, however, were shown to be significantly more likely to be in this category. • The classification of the type of research (basic or clinical) by our analysis of each paper broadly agreed with the classification of the journals by Research Level. • The time constraints involved in applying the template, plus the lack of any overall pattern in terms of correlations between number and importance of citations, might point to the desirability of adopting a more selective approach, guided by qualitative analysis. In any selective approach, however, it is likely that self-citations should feature. iv Chapter 4 : Qualitative analysis • Given the number of co-authors, it seemed appropriate to send them a questionnaire rather than attempt to interview them. Therefore the interviewing was rather more concentrated than originally intended. Only one formal critical pathway was created, but it was undertaken by an expert in the field who worked with Alberti at Newcastle. • Some problems emerged in taking 1981 as the starting point for the study. Alberti identified 10 selected papers from the 1970s and 1980s that he felt had had most impact on clinical practice. These helped to give us both a better understanding of the payback from our 1st generation, or 1981, papers, and provided further material for analysis. • Attempting to describe the impact from the 1981 body of work, and from the 10 selected papers, underlines the complex reality of how science advances and influences clinical practice. If they make a contribution at all, most studies make a small, incremental one. • A few papers, however, have been shown to have a considerably greater impact. A possible key to the level of payback indicated is the enormous breadth of Alberti’s contacts, and fields and methods of working, to which various references were made. This is well illustrated in the account of how the idea for subcutaneous pumps came about. Similarly, the ability to produce the very important guidelines on treating diabetics during surgery, and diabetic coma, partly resulted from the application to clinical problems of the understandings gained from some of the basic/early clinical studies. It is significant that the key papers on these issues, all of which come from the list of 10 selected papers from the 1970s and 1980s, were having an impact on the 1981 work. • How far the collection of papers from 1981 have been drawn upon in similar ways is less clear. Nevertheless, papers on treating diabetics during open heart surgery, and on bolus delivery of insulin at meal times, were key parts of these wider streams, despite variable citation levels. Furthermore, various papers, including on acarbose, on portal infusion of insulin, and on semi-human insulin, were important steps in bodies of work in their respective areas. The complexity was illustrated by a paper that helped debunk the Chlorpropamide alcohol flushing hypothesis, and thus end a line of scientific enquiry: there was payback in stopping an incorrect line of inquiry, but nothing on which to build. • Each technique in the qualitative study produced information about the successful subsequent careers followed by many researchers trained through working with Alberti. • Historical perspectives, and insider expert opinions, were important in the qualitative analysis. Overall, the qualitative methods highlighted some limitations in the bibliometric approach but also showed how aspects of the citation analysis can complement the opinions expressed, for example about the importance of the breadth of Alberti’s work. v Chapter 5 : Lessons learnt and the way forward • Lessons learnt: a variety of methods can be used successfully to gather considerable data about the payback from a body of research undertaken 20 years ago. Traditional citation analysis alone, however, is not sufficient: the importance of the surgery papers despite their relatively low citation rates illustrates this. The qualitative methods are important and much of the analysis is strengthened by drawing on multiple approaches. Several problems remain, including: identifying a coherent starting point for the analysis; coping with the enormous number of papers involved in later generations; and refining the template for categorising citations and developing ways of fully utilising the results from applying it. • Preparing for the large-scale study: this preliminary study provides a basis on which to attempt to undertake the larger study we envisaged. Issues now being addressed include identification of the level of bibliometric/citation analysis necessary to complement any qualitative studies. To provide confidence in the findings from an eventual large-scale study, we will need to expand the focus. The study will need to cover at least four sets of case studies. Ideally, each set should focus on a number of research groups working in a country in the same field. We hope there will be sets of case studies in two or three fields and in at least two countries. The issues to be explored will include ones highlighted by this study such as breadth of work, level of collaboration, and the role of core funding. • Methods for the large-scale study: for each case study we now propose to employ two methodological elements based on the qualitative and quantitative techniques adopted in the preliminary study. They will work in parallel but the quantitative bibliometric analysis would be applied selectively to parts of ‘research lines’ (ie discrete themes of research) identified in the qualitative studies as being important in influencing clinical practice. • Presenting the findings: each research line could be written-up in a standardised document that would use the HERG payback model and categories to describe the impact of that research. We shall use the qualitative and quantitative data to compare and contrast the ‘payback’ of research lines by country and disease, and then identify common factors that correlate with the translation of basic or early clinical research. • Concluding comments: in the era of ‘evidence based policy’, research funders are looking for value for money in the research they support and for evidence on the effectiveness of different research strategies. In this study we have begun developing a methodology that will allow us to understand the complexity of research development over a series of generations. The utility of the policy research we propose here will only be realised when it is scaled up to cover a number of different fields in different settings.NHS Executive, London Regio

Canadian Economists' Citation and Publication Records

This paper uses the Social Science Citation Index to count the number of citations received and publications made by all economists teaching at Canadian universities in 1975. It is shown that the top decile of individuals received 72 percent of all citations and 50 percent received none. The University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser Univer- sity departments of economics have the highest and second-highest average citation counts of all Canadian universities, respectively. The age-profile of citations, self-citation propensities and the journals of publication are analysed from a sub-sample of data.Cet article utilise le Social Science Citation Index pour relever le nombre de citations reçues et de publications au crédit de tous les économistes qui enseignaient dans les universités canadiennes durant l'année 1975. Il est démontré que le décile supérieur d'individus a reçu 72 pour cent de toutes les citations et que 50 pour cent en ont reçu aucune. Les départments d'économique des universités de la Colombie-Britanique et Simon Fraser ont respectivement le plus grand et le deuxième plus grand nombres moyens de citations de toutes les universités canadiennes. L'aspect temporel des citations, les propensions à l'auto-citation et les revues de publication sont analisés à l'aide d'un sous-échantillon de données

The multilayered nature of reference selection

Why authors choose some references in preference to others is a question that is still not wholly answered despite its being of interest to scientists. The relevance of references is twofold: They are a mechanism for tracing the evolution of science, and because they enhance the image of the cited authors, citations are a widely known and used indicator of scientific endeavor. Following an extensive review of the literature, we selected all papers that seek to answer the central question and demonstrate that the existing theories are not sufficient: Neither citation nor indicator theory provides a complete and convincing answer. Some perspectives in this arena remain, which are isolated from the core literature. The purpose of this article is to offer a fresh perspective on a 30-year-old problem by extending the context of the discussion. We suggest reviving the discussion about citation theories with a new perspective, that of the readers, by layers or phases, in the final choice of references, allowing for a new classification in which any paper, to date, could be included.Publicad