scholarly journals Reducing bias and improving transparency in medical research: a critical overview of the problems, progress and suggested next steps

2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (11) ◽  
pp. 433-443
Author(s):  
Stephen H Bradley ◽  
Nicholas J DeVito ◽  
Kelly E Lloyd ◽  
Georgia C Richards ◽  
Tanja Rombey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Medical Research ◽  
World Health ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
Research Culture ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Critical Overview ◽  
Organization Research ◽  
Comprehensive Study

In recent years there has been increasing awareness of problems that have undermined trust in medical research. This review outlines some of the most important issues including research culture, reporting biases, and statistical and methodological issues. It examines measures that have been instituted to address these problems and explores the success and limitations of these measures. The paper concludes by proposing three achievable actions which could be implemented to deliver significantly improved transparency and mitigation of bias. These measures are as follows: (1) mandatory registration of interests by those involved in research; (2) that journals support the ‘registered reports’ publication format; and (3) that comprehensive study documentation for all publicly funded research be made available on a World Health Organization research repository. We suggest that achieving such measures requires a broad-based campaign which mobilises public opinion. We invite readers to feedback on the proposed actions and to join us in calling for their implementation.

scholarly journals The Covid infodemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Hyland ◽  
Feng (Kevin) Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Medical Research ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Highly Cited

Abstract Covid-19, the greatest global health crisis for a century, brought a new immediacy and urgency to international bio-medical research. The pandemic generated intense competition to produce a vaccine and contain the virus, creating what the World Health Organization referred to as an ‘infodemic’ of published output. In this frantic atmosphere, researchers were keen to get their research noticed. In this paper, we explore whether this enthusiasm influenced the rhetorical presentation of research and encouraged scientists to “sell” their studies. Examining a corpus of the most highly cited SCI articles on the virus published in the first seven months of 2020, we explore authors’ use of hyperbolic and promotional language to boost aspects of their research. Our results show a significant increase in hype to stress certainty, contribution, novelty and potential, especially regarding research methods, outcomes and primacy. Our study sheds light on scientific persuasion at a time of intense social anxiety.

scholarly journals Reducing bias and improving transparency in biomedical and health research: A critical overview of the problems, progress so far and suggested next steps

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Bradley ◽  
Nicholas J DeVito ◽  
Kelly Lloyd ◽  
Georgia Catherine Richards ◽  
Tanja Rombey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Research ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Research Culture ◽  
Critical Overview

In recent years there has been increasing awareness about problems which have undermined trust in science generally. This review outlines some of the most important issues facing medical research including research culture, lack of transparency, reporting biases and the failure to produce reproducible results. It examines measures which have been instituted to address these problems to date. The paper concludes by proposing three achievable actions which could be readily implemented in medical research to deliver significantly improved transparency and mitigation of bias.

scholarly journals A database of geopositioned Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus occurrences

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca E. Ramshaw ◽  
Ian D. Letourneau ◽  
Amy Y. Hong ◽  
Julia Hon ◽  
Julia D. Morgan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Literature Search ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
Contextual Information ◽  
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
World Health ◽  
Exclusion Criteria ◽  
Information Index ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Organization Research

AbstractAs a World Health Organization Research and Development Blueprint priority pathogen, there is a need to better understand the geographic distribution of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and its potential to infect mammals and humans. This database documents cases of MERS-CoV globally, with specific attention paid to zoonotic transmission. An initial literature search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus; after screening articles according to the inclusion/exclusion criteria, a total of 208 sources were selected for extraction and geo-positioning. Each MERS-CoV occurrence was assigned one of the following classifications based upon published contextual information: index, unspecified, secondary, mammal, environmental, or imported. In total, this database is comprised of 861 unique geo-positioned MERS-CoV occurrences. The purpose of this article is to share a collated MERS-CoV database and extraction protocol that can be utilized in future mapping efforts for both MERS-CoV and other infectious diseases. More broadly, it may also provide useful data for the development of targeted MERS-CoV surveillance, which would prove invaluable in preventing future zoonotic spillover.

scholarly journals Systems and WBANs for Controlling Obesity

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maali Said Mohammed ◽  
Sandra Sendra ◽  
Jaime Lloret ◽  
Ignacio Bosch
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
World Health ◽  
Fat Percentage ◽  
Body Area ◽  
Significant Cost ◽  
Obesity And Overweight ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Comprehensive Study

According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimations, one out of five adults worldwide will be obese by 2025. Worldwide obesity has doubled since 1980. In fact, more than 1.9 billion adults (39%) of 18 years and older were overweight and over 600 million (13%) of these were obese in 2014. 42 million children under the age of five were overweight or obese in 2014. Obesity is a top public health problem due to its associated morbidity and mortality. This paper reviews the main techniques to measure the level of obesity and body fat percentage, and explains the complications that can carry to the individual's quality of life, longevity and the significant cost of healthcare systems. Researchers and developers are adapting the existing technology, as intelligent phones or some wearable gadgets to be used for controlling obesity. They include the promoting of healthy eating culture and adopting the physical activity lifestyle. The paper also shows a comprehensive study of the most used mobile applications and Wireless Body Area Networks focused on controlling the obesity and overweight. Finally, this paper proposes an intelligent architecture that takes into account both, physiological and cognitive aspects to reduce the degree of obesity and overweight.

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