A multi-disciplinary perspective on emergent and future innovations in peer review [version 2; referees: 2 approved]

Peer review of research articles is a core part of our scholarly communication system. In spite of its importance, the status and purpose of peer review is often contested. What is its role in our modern digital research and communications infrastructure? Does it perform to the high standards with which it is generally regarded? Studies of peer review have shown that it is prone to bias and abuse in numerous dimensions, frequently unreliable, and can fail to detect even fraudulent research. With the advent of web technologies, we are now witnessing a phase of innovation and experimentation in our approaches to peer review. These developments prompted us to examine emerging models of peer review from a range of disciplines and venues, and to ask how they might address some of the issues with our current systems of peer review. We examine the functionality of a range of social Web platforms, and compare these with the traits underlying a viable peer review system: quality control, quantified performance metrics as engagement incentives, and certification and reputation. Ideally, any new systems will demonstrate that they out-perform and reduce the biases of existing models as much as possible. We conclude that there is considerable scope for new peer review initiatives to be developed, each with their own potential issues and advantages. We also propose a novel hybrid platform model that could, at least partially, resolve many of the socio-technical issues associated with peer review, and potentially disrupt the entire scholarly communication system. Success for any such development relies on reaching a critical threshold of research community engagement with both the process and the platform, and therefore cannot be achieved without a significant change of incentives in research environments

A multi-disciplinary perspective on emergent and future innovations in peer review

Peer review of research articles is a core part of our scholarly communication system. In spite of its importance, the status and purpose of peer review is often contested. What is its role in our modern digital research and communications infrastructure? Does it perform to the high standards with which it is generally regarded? Studies of peer review have shown that it is prone to bias and abuse in numerous dimensions, frequently unreliable, and can fail to detect even fraudulent research. With the advent of web technologies, we are now witnessing a phase of innovation and experimentation in our approaches to peer review. These developments prompted us to examine emerging models of peer review from a range of disciplines and venues, and to ask how they might address some of the issues with our current systems of peer review. We examine the functionality of a range of social Web platforms, and compare these with the traits underlying a viable peer review system: quality control, quantified performance metrics as engagement incentives, and certification and reputation. Ideally, any new systems will demonstrate that they out-perform and reduce the biases of existing models as much as possible. We conclude that there is considerable scope for new peer review initiatives to be developed, each with their own potential issues and advantages. We also propose a novel hybrid platform model that could, at least partially, resolve many of the socio-technical issues associated with peer review, and potentially disrupt the entire scholarly communication system. Success for any such development relies on reaching a critical threshold of research community engagement with both the process and the platform, and therefore cannot be achieved without a significant change of incentives in research environments

Nations within a nation: variations in epidemiological transition across the states of India, 1990–2016 in the Global Burden of Disease Study

18% of the world's population lives in India, and many states of India have populations similar to those of large countries. Action to effectively improve population health in India requires availability of reliable and comprehensive state-level estimates of disease burden and risk factors over time. Such comprehensive estimates have not been available so far for all major diseases and risk factors. Thus, we aimed to estimate the disease burden and risk factors in every state of India as part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2016

PknB remains an essential and a conserved target for drug development in susceptible and MDR strains of M. Tuberculosis

Abstract Background The Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) protein kinase B (PknB) which is now proved to be essential for the growth and survival of M.tb, is a transmembrane protein with a potential to be a good drug target. However it is not known if this target remains conserved in otherwise resistant isolates from clinical origin. The present study describes the conservation analysis of sequences covering the inhibitor binding domain of PknB to assess if it remains conserved in susceptible and resistant clinical strains of mycobacteria picked from three different geographical areas of India. Methods A total of 116 isolates from North, South and West India were used in the study with a variable profile of their susceptibilities towards streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol and ofloxacin. Isolates were also spoligotyped in order to find if the conservation pattern of pknB gene remain consistent or differ with different spoligotypes. The impact of variation as found in the study was analyzed using Molecular dynamics simulations. Results The sequencing results with 115/116 isolates revealed the conserved nature of pknB sequences irrespective of their susceptibility status and spoligotypes. The only variation found was in one strains wherein pnkB sequence had G to A mutation at 664 position translating into a change of amino acid, Valine to Isoleucine. After analyzing the impact of this sequence variation using Molecular dynamics simulations, it was observed that the variation is causing no significant change in protein structure or the inhibitor binding. Conclusions Hence, the study endorses that PknB is an ideal target for drug development and there is no pre-existing or induced resistance with respect to the sequences involved in inhibitor binding. Also if the mutation that we are reporting for the first time is found again in subsequent work, it should be checked with phenotypic profile before drawing the conclusion that it would affect the activity in any way. Bioinformatics analysis in our study says that it has no significant effect on the binding and hence the activity of the protein

Estimation of tuberculosis incidence at subnational level using three methods to monitor progress towards ending TB in India, 2015–2020

Objectives We verified subnational (state/union territory (UT)/district) claims of achievements in reducing tuberculosis (TB) incidence in 2020 compared with 2015, in India.Design A community-based survey, analysis of programme data and anti-TB drug sales and utilisation data.Setting National TB Elimination Program and private TB treatment settings in 73 districts that had filed a claim to the Central TB Division of India for progress towards TB-free status.Participants Each district was divided into survey units (SU) and one village/ward was randomly selected from each SU. All household members in the selected village were interviewed. Sputum from participants with a history of anti-TB therapy (ATT), those currently experiencing chest symptoms or on ATT were tested using Xpert/Rif/TrueNat. The survey continued until 30 Mycobacterium tuberculosis cases were identified in a district.Outcome measures We calculated a direct estimate of TB incidence based on incident cases identified in the survey. We calculated an under-reporting factor by matching these cases within the TB notification system. The TB notification adjusted for this factor was the estimate by the indirect method. We also calculated TB incidence from drug sale data in the private sector and drug utilisation data in the public sector. We compared the three estimates of TB incidence in 2020 with TB incidence in 2015.Results The estimated direct incidence ranged from 19 (Purba Medinipur, West Bengal) to 1457 (Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya) per 100 000 population. Indirect estimates of incidence ranged between 19 (Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli) and 788 (Dumka, Jharkhand) per 100 000 population. The incidence using drug sale data ranged from 19 per 100 000 population in Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli to 651 per 100 000 population in Centenary, Maharashtra.Conclusion TB incidence in 1 state, 2 UTs and 35 districts had declined by at least 20% since 2015. Two districts in India were declared TB free in 2020