Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34164697›Full record

ArticleALTEX2021

Improving the quality of toxicology and environmental health systematic reviews: What journal editors can do.

Paul Whaley, Bas J Blaauboer, Jan Brozek, Elaine A Cohen Hubal, Kaitlyn Hair, Sam Kacew, Thomas B Knudsen, Carol F Kwiatkowski, David T Mellor, Andrew F Olshan and 8 more

Abstract readEditorial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in ALTEX, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

18 authors.

Paul WhaleyEvidence-based Toxicology Collaboration at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA
Bas J BlaauboerInstitute for Risk Assessment Sciences, div. of Toxicology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Jan BrozekDepartment of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University Health Sciences Centre, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Elaine A Cohen HubalUS EPA, Office of Research and Development, Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
Kaitlyn HairCAMARADES, University of Edinburgh, Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Sam KacewMcLaughlin Centre for Risk Assessment, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Thomas B KnudsenUS EPA, Office of Research and Development, Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
Carol F KwiatkowskiThe Endocrine Disruption Exchange, Eckert, CO, USA.
David T MellorCenter for Open Science, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
Andrew F OlshanDepartment of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Matthew J PageSchool of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Andrew A RooneyDivision of the National Toxicology Program, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
Elizabeth G RadkeCenter for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, USA.
Larissa ShamseerKnowledge Translation Program, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Katya TsaiounEvidence-based Toxicology Collaboration at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Peter TugwellDepartment of Medicine and School of Epidemiology University of Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Daniele WikoffToxStrategies, Inc., Asheville, NC, USA.
Tracey J WoodruffProgram on Reproductive Health and the Environment, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Funding

Integrated Health Assessments for the Division of the National Toxicology ProgramZICES103317 · NIEHS · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES · PI ROONEY, ANDREW · 2020 to 2021
$9.6M
Intramural EPA EPA999999
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Systematic reviews are fast increasing in prevalence in the toxicology and environmental health literature. However, how well these complex research projects are being conducted and reported is unclear. Since editors have an essential role in ensuring the scientific quality of manuscripts being published in their journals, a workshop was convened where editors, systematic review practitioners, and research quality control experts could discuss what editors can do to ensure the systematic reviews they publish are of sufficient scientific quality. Interventions were explored along four themes: setting standards; reviewing protocols; optimizing editorial workflows; and measuring the effectiveness of editorial interventions. In total, 58 editorial interventions were proposed. Of these, 26 were shortlisted for being potentially effective, and 5 were prioritized as short-term actions that editors could relatively easily take to improve the quality of published systematic reviews. Recent progress in improving systematic reviews is summarized, and outstanding challenges to further progress are highlighted.

Indexed as

Editorial PoliciesEnvironmental HealthQuality ControlWorkflowenvironmental healthepidemiologyresearch standardssystematic reviewtoxicology

Identifiers

PMID34164697
PMCPMC9472299

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.