SynthesisPloS one2015
Research trends in evidence-based medicine: a joinpoint regression analysis of more than 50 years of publication data.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Knowledge mapping and research trends of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell immunotherapy in breast cancer: A bibliometric and visual analytics study.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Article
- Consultative General Internal Medicine for Complex Care: The Model, Outcomes, and Lessons Learned.The Permanente journal · 2026Review
- Endoscopic spine surgery: a bibliometric and citation analysis of the most influential articles and authors across 19 spine journals (1976-2025).European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Review
- Therapeutic Horizon in Multiple Myeloma: Analysis of the Emerging Landscape of Clinical Trials.Therapeutic innovation & regulatory science · 2026Article
- Assessment of influential authors and articles in spine surgery research: a narrative review.Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong) · 2026Review
- Normothermic machine perfusion in liver transplantation: a bibliometric analysis of the top 100 most cited articles.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2025Review
- Factors associated with the export of traditional Chinese medicinal products: A stochastic frontier analysis.PloS one · 2025Article
- Rural-Urban Disparity in Premature Cancer Mortality in Young People Aged 15-44 Years in China, 2004-2021.International journal of public health · 2025Article
- Marginal health care expenditures for melanoma care in the United States.Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy · 2024Article
- A bibliometric analysis of the 100 most-influential papers in the field of anti-diabetic drugs.Future science OA · 2024Article
- Global mapping of randomized controlled trials in dentistry.Brazilian dental journal · 2024Article
- Article
- Article
- Changing trends in clinical research literature on PubMed database from 1991 to 2020.European journal of medical research · 2022Article
- Evaluating and Engaging: Using Participatory Video With Kenyan Secondary School Students to Explore Engagement With Health Research.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Does quality of research in otolaryngology correlate with academic impact?Laryngoscope investigative otolaryngology · 2020Article
- Implementation of a randomized controlled trial on an inpatient stroke rehabilitation unit: Lessons learned.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2020Article
- Development of the Rehabilitation Health Policy, Systems, and Services Research field: Quantitative Analyses of Publications over Time (1990-2017) and across Country Type.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Participation of the hospitals in the Republic of Ireland in international research over more than a decade: a bibliometric analysis.Irish journal of medical science · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEvidence-based medicine (EBM) has developed as the dominant paradigm of assessment of evidence that is used in clinical practice. Since its development, EBM has been applied to integrate the best available research into diagnosis and treatment with the purpose of improving patient care. In the EBM era, a hierarchy of evidence has been proposed, including various types of research methods, such as meta-analysis (MA), systematic review (SRV), randomized controlled trial (RCT), case report (CR), practice guideline (PGL), and so on. Although there are numerous studies examining the impact and importance of specific cases of EBM in clinical practice, there is a lack of research quantitatively measuring publication trends in the growth and development of EBM. Therefore, a bibliometric analysis was constructed to determine the scientific productivity of EBM research over decades.
methodsNCBI PubMed database was used to search, retrieve and classify publications according to research method and year of publication. Joinpoint regression analysis was undertaken to analyze trends in research productivity and the prevalence of individual research methods.
findingsAnalysis indicates that MA and SRV, which are classified as the highest ranking of evidence in the EBM, accounted for a relatively small but auspicious number of publications. For most research methods, the annual percent change (APC) indicates a consistent increase in publication frequency. MA, SRV and RCT show the highest rate of publication growth in the past twenty years. Only controlled clinical trials (CCT) shows a non-significant reduction in publications over the past ten years.
conclusionsHigher quality research methods, such as MA, SRV and RCT, are showing continuous publication growth, which suggests an acknowledgement of the value of these methods. This study provides the first quantitative assessment of research method publication trends in EBM.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.