Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35949680›Full record

ArticleHealth science reports2022

The Clinical Research Bias Index (CRBI): A novel journal ranking method applied to child health respiratory studies.

Manishaa Vairavan, Andrew Prayle, Patrick Davies

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Health science reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing 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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
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

3 authors.

Manishaa VairavanUniversity of Nottingham School of Medicine Nottingham UK.ORCID 0000-0002-7156-8328
Andrew PrayleUniversity of Nottingham School of Medicine Nottingham UK.ORCID 0000-0002-1514-2840
Patrick DaviesUniversity of Nottingham School of Medicine Nottingham UK.ORCID 0000-0001-6540-6368

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background and Aims: Journal impact factor has historically been taken as a proxy for quality. However, this is open to significant manipulation and bias. There is currently not widely adopted, robust journal and paper ranking metric which is focused solely on risk of bias. Methods: Risk of bias data was extracted from all Cochrane database systematic reviews in Child Health, Lungs, and Airways for the years 2017-2019. A novel paper quality score, the Clinical Research Bias Index (CRBI), was applied. Individual paper data were pooled for each journal. A comparison was made to journal impact factors, individual paper citations, reads, and altmetric scores. Results: 927 papers were analyzed for risk of bias. 119 (12·8%) scored a CRBI of 100%, with a mean score of 70%. A journal's overall CRBI risk of bias score was poorly correlated with impact factor ( Conclusion: The novel research quality tool CRBI demonstrates the poor correlation between journal impact factor, citations, and risk of bias. Journal and paper ranking metrics should ensure that they are fit for purpose, and enable the dissemination of high-quality research for the benefit of patients. We propose the CRBI as a potential solution which is resistant to manipulation and will reward the creation and publication of bias-free research.

Indexed as

biascitationsImpact Factorquality

Identifiers

PMID35949680
PMCPMC9358325

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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.