scholarly journals Publishing with impact factor – a blessing or a curse?

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-31
Author(s):  
Christos Lionis

Reporting and publishing research from a country with limited research capacity experiences from an editor Christos Lionis as chief and associate editor that serves certain European and International biomedical journals presents key issues that researchers need to be aware when they prepare, present and submit their work to maximise their chances of publication. Sufficient reporting and all the steps: (a) Planning ahead or thinking about the type or research, (b) Choosing a suitable journal, (c) Considering what before submission – are discussed in the article. However, a successful publication with an impact factor in a well-recognized journal is not only achieved by the fundamental steps that the author needs to undertake but also by certain “secrets” which are presented within the paper. Common pitfalls when research is reported will be highlighted by the author, while recommendations for a successful reporting of the research findings. To what extent publishing with impact factor is a blessing or a curse would be also approached within the paper. The information that this article provides is based on personal experiences of an editor in certain biomedical journals but it is important not to forget that in clinical practice it is critical to be passionate about discoveries to make an effect in regards to the patients’ benefits.

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 688-704
Author(s):  
Katrina Fulcher-Rood ◽  
Anny Castilla-Earls ◽  
Jeff Higginbotham

Purpose The current investigation is a follow-up from a previous study examining child language diagnostic decision making in school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs). The purpose of this study was to examine the SLPs' perspectives regarding the use of evidence-based practice (EBP) in their clinical work. Method Semistructured phone interviews were conducted with 25 school-based SLPs who previously participated in an earlier study by Fulcher-Rood et al. 2018). SLPs were asked questions regarding their definition of EBP, the value of research evidence, contexts in which they implement scientific literature in clinical practice, and the barriers to implementing EBP. Results SLPs' definitions of EBP differed from current definitions, in that SLPs only included the use of research findings. SLPs seem to discuss EBP as it relates to treatment and not assessment. Reported barriers to EBP implementation were insufficient time, limited funding, and restrictions from their employment setting. SLPs found it difficult to translate research findings to clinical practice. SLPs implemented external research evidence when they did not have enough clinical expertise regarding a specific client or when they needed scientific evidence to support a strategy they used. Conclusions SLPs appear to use EBP for specific reasons and not for every clinical decision they make. In addition, SLPs rely on EBP for treatment decisions and not for assessment decisions. Educational systems potentially present other challenges that need to be considered for EBP implementation. Considerations for implementation science and the research-to-practice gap are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 265-271
Author(s):  
Jyotishna Mudaliar ◽  
Bridget Kool ◽  
Janice Natasha ◽  
Judith McCool

Introduction: A barrier to local investigator-led research in low income settings, is the limited availability of personnel with appropriate research skills or qualifications to conduct the type of research required for evidence-informed policy making to improve access and quality of health care. In response to this, Fiji National University’s College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences in Fiji, collaborated with academics based at the University of Auckland, New Zealand to deliver a series of research capacity development workshops in Fiji. Methods: Participants who attended any of the nine workshops (n=123) were contacted via email to take part in a brief survey regarding their perceptions of the effectiveness of the research capacity building workshops. Of the possible 123 participants, 80% (n=76) completed the questionnaire.  Results: Findings demonstrate that the majority of participants reported that they had gained research skills from the workshops (75%) including proposal development skills (68%) and knowledge of appropriate research methods (59%). Furthermore, 70% agreed that the workshops built their research confidence.  Since attending a workshop, 18% of respondents had successfully applied and received funding for research grants and/or fellowships.  Barriers to conduct research included workload (75%), lack of research knowledge, experience or skills (51%), and lack of institutional support (41%). Suggestions for future workshops included: more focus on data analysis, regular courses rather than ‘one offs’, and preparation of research findings (e.g. publications). Conclusion: Our findings indicate that research workshops of this nature may increase individual research capabilities but sustained, locally led initiatives, backed by institutional and supplementary technical support are essential.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 3949
Author(s):  
Lidia Wlodarczyk ◽  
Rafal Szelenberger ◽  
Natalia Cichon ◽  
Joanna Saluk-Bijak ◽  
Michal Bijak ◽  
...  

Several key issues impact the clinical practice of stroke rehabilitation including a patient’s medical history, stroke experience, the potential for recovery, and the selection of the most effective type of therapy. Until clinicians have answers to these concerns, the treatment and rehabilitation are rather intuitive, with standard procedures carried out based on subjective estimations using clinical scales. Therefore, there is a need to find biomarkers that could predict brain recovery potential in stroke patients. This review aims to present the current state-of-the-art stroke recovery biomarkers that could be used in clinical practice. The revision of biochemical biomarkers has been developed based on stroke recovery processes: angiogenesis and neuroplasticity. This paper provides an overview of the biomarkers that are considered to be ready-to-use in clinical practice and others, considered as future tools. Furthermore, this review shows the utility of biomarkers in the development of the concept of personalized medicine. Enhancing brain neuroplasticity and rehabilitation facilitation are crucial concerns not only after stroke, but in all central nervous system diseases.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-61
Author(s):  
B. Niveditha ◽  
Mallinath Kumbar

The present study examines the availability and recovery of web references cited in scholarly journals selected based on their high impact factor published between 2008 and 2017. A PHP script was used to crawl the Uniform Resource Locators (URL) collected from the references. A total of 5720 articles were downloaded and 237418 references were extracted. A total of 33512 URLs were checked for their availability. Further the lexical features of URLs like file extension, path depth, character length and top-level domain was determined. The research findings indicated that out of 33512 web references, 20218 contained URLs, DOIs were found in 12799 references and 495 references contained arXiv or WOS identifier. It was found that 29760 URLs were accessible and the remaining 3752 URLs were missing. Most errors were due to HTTP 404 error code (Not found error). The study also tried to recover the inaccessible URLs through Time Travel. Almost 60.55% of inaccessible URLs were archived in various web archives. The findings of the study will be helpful to authors, publishers, and editorial staff to ensure that web references will be accessible in future.


2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1847-1862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miquel Porta ◽  
José L. Copete ◽  
Esteve Fernandez ◽  
Joan Alguacil ◽  
Janeth Murillo

News of the death of biomedical journals seem premature. Revamped traditional scientific journals remain highly valued sources and vehicles of information, critical debate, and knowledge. Some analyses seem to place a disproportionate emphasis on technological and formal issues, as compared to the importance ascribed to matters of power. Not all journals must necessarily have a large circulation. There are many examples of efficient, high-quality journals with a great impact on relatively small audiences for whom the journal is thought-provoking, useful, and pleasant to read. How can we achieve a better understanding of an article’s spectrum of impacts? A certain mixing of three distinct entities (journals, articles, and authors) has often pervaded judgments. Data used by the Institute for Scientific Information present weaknesses in their accuracy. The two-year limit for citations to count towards the bibliographic impact factor favors "fast-moving", "basic" biomedical disciplines and is less appropriate for public health studies. Increasing attention is given to the specific number of citations received by each individual article. It is possible to make progress towards more valid, accurate, fair, and relevant assessments.


Temida ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vesna Nikolic-Ristanovic

In this paper the findings of literature review and explorative empirical research of yoga application in the work with victims of various forms of sufferings is presented. The largest notion of victim is accepted, which encompasses victims of crime, victims of human rights violations (including convicted persons), as well as victims of war, natural disasters and other sufferings. After determination of the notion of victim and yoga, the review and analyses of research findings and direct experiences with the application of yoga in victim support and victimisation prevention worldwide and in Serbia, is done. The author?s research findings as well as personal experiences with the application of yoga in the work with prisoners in prison for women in Pozarevac (Serbia), within the workshops that Victimology Society of Serbia implemented during 2012/2013, are presented as well. In the conclusions, contribution of yoga to holistic approach to victim support as well as important role that yoga may have in prevention of victimisation and criminalisation, is stressed. The importance of yoga for support of prisoners as the part of preparation for re-entry and with the aim to prevent recidivism, as well as to enable their more successful reintegration into the society, is particularly emphasised. The paper is based on the research implemented by the author for the purpose of writing the final essey at the course for yoga instructors on International yoga academy, Yoga Allience of Serbia.


Author(s):  
Isabel Laterzo

In recent years, research has demonstrated that crime victimization serves as a catalyst to political engagement. However, much of this work has not addressed two key issues: 1) the true causality of this relationship, and 2) how victims’ identities and personal experiences might influence this relationship. This paper tackles these issues by testing the effect of victimization on non-electoral engagement using the Two-City, Six-Wave panel survey administered in Brazil between 2002 and 2006. It finds that the causal relationship between victimization and engagement only exists for participation in political party meetings. Furthermore, when exploring the role of individual identity and community context, only men, those who live in safe neighborhoods, and White Brazilians experience an increase in their engagement. Meanwhile, women, those in unsafe neighborhoods, and Afro-Brazilians do not experience such an increase. Those who have not experienced discrimination also increase their participation, while those who have experienced discrimination do not.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 481-490
Author(s):  
Tatiana Y. Demidova ◽  
Olga V. Balutina

The appearance of concentrated insulins in clinical practice determines the need to analyze product priorities in appropriate groups of patients with diabetes. The aim of this article is to summarize the literature on concentrated insulins (i.e. insulin lispro 200 units/mL, insulin degludec 200 units/mL, insulin glargine 300 units/mL) from randomized controlled trials, derive guidance on appropriate and safe use of these agents and demonstrate experience in real clinical practice. Severe hypoglycemia in all studies was generally low (though higher with prandial plus concentrated basal analogue therapy), and statistical improvements in other hypoglycemia categories were observed for concentrated basal insulins versus insulin glargine 100 units/mL. In all analyzed data hypoglycemic effect of insulin glargine 300 units/mL was equitable to insulin glargine 100 units/mL. Other important findings demonstrate more constant and prolonged insulin action with low within-subject/ between-day variability for insulin glargine 300 units/mL versus insulin glargine 100 units/mL, therefore, more physiological treatment might prevent from diabetic microvascular complications. The results of randomized trials are comparable with our clinical practice experience and indicate efficacious and safe glucose-lowering properties without risk of severe hypoglycemia.


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