Research methodology and characteristics of journal articles with original data, preprint articles and registered clinical trial protocols about COVID-19

Fidahic, Mahir; Nujić, Danijela; Runjić, Renata; Čivljak, Marta; Markotić, Filipa; Makarić, Zvjezdana Lovrić; Puljak, Livia

doi:10.1186/s12874-020-01047-2

Cited by 47 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Since there has been insufficient time to design, approve, conduct, and conclude such studies, reports of preliminary results can be expected over the upcoming months. A previous cross-sectional study on COVID-19-related publications revealed that only a quarter of the first 2118 articles contained original data [31]. In our study, the number of registered trial protocols listed as "ongoing" in Clinicaltrials.gov and in ChiCTR (n = 795 and n = 308, respectively) signals an upward trend.…”

Section: Plos Onesupporting

confidence: 46%

Characteristics of academic publications, preprints, and registered clinical trials on the COVID-19 pandemic

et al. 2020

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The COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a deluge of publications. For this cross-sectional study we compared the amount and reporting characteristics of COVID-19-related academic articles and preprints and the number of ongoing clinical trials and systematic reviews. To do this, we searched the PubMed database of citations and abstracts for published life science journals by using appropriate combinations of medical subject headings (MeSH terms), and the COVID-19 section of the MedRxiv and BioRxiv archives up to 20 May 2020 (21 weeks). In addition, we searched Clinicaltrial.gov, Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, EU Clinical Trials Register, and 15 other trial registers, as well as PROSPERO, the international prospective register of systematic reviews. The characteristics of each publication were extracted. Regression analyses and Z tests were used to detect publication trends and their relative proportions. A total of 3635 academic publications and 3805 preprints were retrieved. Only 8.6% (n = 329) of the preprints were already published in indexed journals. The number of academic and preprint publications increased significantly over time (p<0.001). Case reports (6% academic vs 0.9% preprints; p<0.001) and letters (17.4% academic vs 0.5% preprints; p<0.001) accounted for a greater share of academic compared to preprint publications. Differently, randomized controlled trials (0.22% vs 0.63%; p<0.001) and systematic reviews (0.08% vs 5%) made up a greater share of the preprints. The relative proportion of clinical studies registered at Clinicaltrials.gov, Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, and EU Clinical Trials Register was 57.9%, 49.5%, and 98.9%, respectively, most of which were still "recruiting". PROSPERO listed 962 systematic review protocols. Preprints were slightly more prevalent than academic articles but both were increasing in number. The void left by the lack of primary studies was filled by an outpour of immediate opinions (i.e., letters to the editor) published in PubMed-indexed journals. Summarizing, preprints have gained traction as a publishing response to the demand for prompt access to empirical, albeit not peer-reviewed, findings during the present pandemic.

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Section: Plos Onesupporting

confidence: 46%

Characteristics of academic publications, preprints, and registered clinical trials on the COVID-19 pandemic

et al. 2020

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“…Approximately 900 articles, including published works and preprints, were published prior to March 12, 2020 (Callaway et al, 2020). A signi cant proportion of the preprint surge could be a result of scholarly journals requiring that works submitted for peer-review must be made simultaneously available for the public on a preprint server (Fidahic, Nujic, Runjic, Civljak, Markotic, Lovric Makaric, et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nonetheless, due to the sanitary emergency, authors have been urged to share relevant information as soon as possible, thus, an increasing amount of studies have been posted as preprints (Rubin et al, 2020). As well, many scholarly journals have required that authors share their work initially in a preprint server, before it goes through peer-review and editing processes (Fidahic, Nujic, Runjic, Civljak, Markotic, Lovric, et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent analysis identi ed that articles published on scholarly journals during the COVID-19 pandemic were mostly case reports, while articles posted on preprint servers mostly included modeling studies (Fidahic, Nujic, Runjic, Civljak, Markotic, Lovric Makaric, et al, 2020). However, the number of preprints that will actually be published after a peer-review process remains uncertain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Citations and publication rate of preprints on pharmacological interventions for COVID-19: The good, the bad and, the ugly.

Nicolalde

Añazco

Mushtaq

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Preprints are preliminary reports that have not been peer-reviewed. On December 2019, a novel coronavirus appeared in China, and since then, scientific production, including preprints, has drastically increased. In this study, we intend to evaluate how often preprints regarding pharmacological interventions against COVID-19 were cited, in spite of the fact that some of these preprints remained unpublished.Methods: We conducted a search on medRxiv and bioRxiv to identify preprints related to pharmacological interventions against SARS-CoV-2 from January 1, 2020 to March 31, 2020. We included any study type that addressed or reported data on pharmacological interventions. We gathered metadata on June 26, 2020 of included preprints and identified if they had been published in a scholarly journal. We performed Mann-Whitney U tests to evaluate if published articles had differences in citation counts or metrics, as defined by PDF downloads and abstract reads, when compared to unpublished preprints.Results: Our sample included 97 preprints, of which 23 were published on scholarly journals and 74 remained unpublished (Publication rate of 23,7%). The most common study designs we found among preprints were basic science research and case series. The number of citations in our sample ranged from 0 to 1409 for published articles, and ranged from 0 to 175 citations for unpublished preprints. Published articles had a significantly higher number of citations when compared to unpublished preprints (p=0,000013). We did not find a statistical difference in PDF download (p=0,167) and abstract reads (p= 0,181). In the published articles, the time from posting on a preprint server to publication on a journal ranged from 0 to 98 days (median: 42.0 days). The time period from date of submission to a journal to date of acceptance in our sample ranged from 1 to 228 days (median: 23 days). Almost half of the preprints that were subsequently published (47,8%) had modifications made to the result section after peer-review.Conclusions: The publication rate of the preprints in this sample was low (1 in 4), although review times in scholarly journals seems to be accelerated. However, there was no difference in the number of views or downloads between preprints already published in scholarly journals and those not yet.

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“…The same arguments can be used for health sciences education. However, despite the explosion of research about COVID-19 [14], few studies have been devoted to exploration of radical changes that the pandemic imposed in medical and health sciences education.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes and concerns of health sciences students in Croatia regarding complete switch to e-learning during COVID-19 pandemic: a survey

Puljak

Čivljak

Haramina

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

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Abstract Background: Croatia has closed all educational institutions after 32 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were confirmed and switched to exclusive e-learning. Health sciences university students may have been particularly disrupted with this change due to lack of practical education. It is not known how health sciences students and schools have adjusted to exclusive e-learning. The aim of this study was to explore attitudes and concerns of health sciences students in Croatia regarding complete switch to e-learning during COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: Eligible participants were students from 9 institutions offering university-level health sciences education in Croatia enrolled in academic year 2019/2010, and participating in e-learning. Data were collected with questionnaire distributed via email during April/May 2020.Results: A total of 2520 students (aged 25.7±7.7 years) responded to the questionnaire (70.3% response rate). General satisfaction with exclusive e-learning was rated with average grade 3.7 out of 5. Compared with previous education, exclusive e-learning was rated with average grade 3.2 out of 5. Compared to classroom learning, equal or higher motivation to attend exclusive learning was reported by 64.4% of participants. With longer duration of exclusive e-learning, equal or higher motivation was reported by 65.5% of participants. Less than half of the students indicated they felt deprived or concerned due to the lack of practical lessons. Most participants indicated that in the future, they would prefer to combine classic classroom and e-learning (N=1403; 55.7%).Conclusions: Most health sciences students were satisfied with the exclusive e-learning, as well as their personal and institutional adjustment to it. Students’ feedback can help institutions to improve exclusive e-learning experience for students in time of pandemic.

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Research methodology and characteristics of journal articles with original data, preprint articles and registered clinical trial protocols about COVID-19

Cited by 47 publications

References 12 publications

Characteristics of academic publications, preprints, and registered clinical trials on the COVID-19 pandemic

Characteristics of academic publications, preprints, and registered clinical trials on the COVID-19 pandemic

Citations and publication rate of preprints on pharmacological interventions for COVID-19: The good, the bad and, the ugly.

Attitudes and concerns of health sciences students in Croatia regarding complete switch to e-learning during COVID-19 pandemic: a survey

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