• Publication activity demonstrates willingness to share research findings.

• Authorship/collaboration patterns show evidence of working with other authors, with various areas of research and institutional affiliations.

• Citations to publications demonstrates knowledge transfer of research findings and can lead to evidence of synthesis into clinical applications.

• Citation patterns help shed light on how original research is being used, by whom, in what areas of research, and where.

• Grant acknowledgement networks show how original research is being used by other research groups and who is funding those projects.

• Cross-disciplinary research efforts demonstrates sharing of expertise and efficient use of resources.

• Research foci trends represented by journals and articles illustrate changes in publication activity and possible evidence of cross-disciplinary efforts.

To learn more about publication data and how to demonstrate impact from publication data please see Quantifying the Impact of My Publications.

The Becker Model is a list of indicators of biomedical research impact and outcomes based on retrospective review of bench and clinical research trials, review of the literature for examples of health outcomes and interviews with investigators. It also includes examples of impact/influence metrics based on publication data.

The Becker Model can be used to help with reports. Examples are:

• Tenure/Promotion
• Grant Reporting
• Individual Performance Review
• Departmental Performance Review
• Administrative/University Reporting
• Benchmarking
• Reporting to the Community of Research Findings

Suggestions are most welcome. Please send them to the blog author.

NIH grantees with Streamlined Noncompeting Award Process (SNAP) and Fellowship awards are now required to use the eRA Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) Commons Module, for awards with start dates on or after July 1, 2013 (due dates on or after May 15 and May 1, respectively). Progress reports for these awards submitted in any other format will not be accepted and must be resubmitted in the RPPR format.  If a progress report has been initiated as an eSNAP, the format must be changed to the RPPR, with the help of the eRA help desk.

Link to full posting: “Progress Reporting Changes Begin this Month“

Can You Trust that Medical Journal by Ted Gansler, MD, MBA, MPH, in the Expert Voices blog hosted by the American Cancer Society.

Two “gems” from Dr. Garfield re use of citations for assessment of impact:

“The use of citation frequency as one indicator of impact is legitimate. It provides a measure of the past or present influence of earlier work. It does not necessarily guarantee that the impact, in the future, will be the same. In citation analysis and peer review, past performance is only a guide to, not a guarantee of, the future. Furthermore, one must find out not only how often, but why someone is being cited.”

“Citation analysis is not a substitute or shortcut for critical thinking; it is, instead, a point of departure for those willing to explore the avenues to thorough evaluation . . . citations tell us nothing about a researcher’s teaching ability, administrative talent, or other non-scholarly contributions. And they do not necessarily reflect the usefulness of research for curing disease, finding new drugs, and so on.”

Source: Essays of an Information Scientist, Vol:8, p.403-409, 1985. Current Contents, #43, p.3-9, October 28, 1985.

For more information, see Dr. Eugene Garfield’s website. Includes bibliography and related resources.

Connection Chart of NCBI and NIH Resources with the NIH Public Access Policy

Many thanks to Bart Trawick for his inspiration and review of the chart, and allowing use of graphics from NLM.

For non-competing continuation grant awards with a start date of July 1, 2013 or beyond:

1) NIH will delay processing of an award if publications arising from it are not in compliance with the NIH public access policy.

2) Investigators will need to use My NCBI to enter papers onto progress reports.  Papers can be associated electronically using the RPPR, or included in the PHS 2590 using the My NCBI generated PDF report.

For an overview of policy changes, see this video, excerpted from the  January 2013 webinar,  Changes to the NIH Public Access Policy and the Implications to Awards.

See Strategies for Enhancing the Impact of Research more suggestions as to enhancing the dissemination of your research.

The staff at NLM update MeSH descriptor terms on a regular basis and welcome suggestions for new or revised MeSH terms.

Has your research resulted in a new term reflecting a new discovery, disease,  process or concept? Or does your research expand upon an existing MeSH term? Is the term referred to in your journal articles or conference abstracts? Is the term being used by others? If so, consider submitting the term to NLM for consideration as an official MeSH term. NLM has a form, Suggestion for Medical Subject Headings Change, for submitting suggestions.

Additional Resources:

• 2013 MeSH Browser
• MeSH Fact Sheet

What are the steps required for compliance under each Submission Method? How do you find and confirm journal policies for NIH-funded authors? What do you do if you are unable to locate the journal policy for NIH-funded authors?

See the new guidance document that includes tips/screenshots on the following:

• Applicability
• Submission Methods: A, B, C, and D
• Compliance Process
• Confirming Journal Policies for NIH-funded Authors

NIH-funded authors are highly encouraged to confirm journal policies before submitting a manuscript for peer review to ensure timely compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy. A PMCID is required within three months of post-publication.

For non-competing continuation grant awards with a start date of 01 July 2013, NIH will delay processing of an award if publications arising from it are not in compliance with the NIH public access policy. See: Changes to Public Access Policy Compliance Efforts Apply to All Awards with Anticipated Start Dates on or after July 1, 2013 (NOT-OD-13-042).