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Time to publication among completed diagnostic accuracy studies: associated with reported accuracy estimates

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Medical Research Methodology, June 2016
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (83rd percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (78th percentile)

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Title
Time to publication among completed diagnostic accuracy studies: associated with reported accuracy estimates
Published in
BMC Medical Research Methodology, June 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12874-016-0177-4
Pubmed ID
Authors

Daniël A. Korevaar, Nick van Es, Aeilko H. Zwinderman, Jérémie F. Cohen, Patrick M. M. Bossuyt

Abstract

Previous evaluations have documented that studies evaluating the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions are not always reported, and that those with statistically significant results are published more rapidly than those without. This can lead to reporting bias in systematic reviews and other literature syntheses. We evaluated whether diagnostic accuracy studies that report promising results about the performance of medical tests are also published more rapidly. We obtained all primary diagnostic accuracy studies included in meta-analyses of Medline-indexed systematic reviews that were published between September 2011 and January 2012. For each primary study, we extracted estimates of diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity, specificity, Youden's index), the completion date of participant recruitment, and the publication date. We calculated the time from completion to publication and assessed associations with reported accuracy estimates. Forty-nine systematic reviews were identified, containing 92 meta-analyses and 924 unique primary studies, of which 756 could be included. Study completion dates were missing for 285 (38 %) of these. Median time from completion to publication in the remaining 471 studies was 24 months (IQR 16 to 35). Primary studies that reported higher estimates of sensitivity (Spearman's rho = -0.14; p = 0.003), specificity (rho = -0.17; p < 0.001), and Youden's index (rho = -0.22; p < 0.001) had significantly shorter times to publication. When comparing time to publication in studies reporting accuracy estimates above versus below the median, the median number of months was 23 versus 25 for sensitivity (p = 0.046), 22 versus 27 for specificity (p = 0.001), and 22 versus 27 for Youden's index (p < 0.001). These differential time lags remained significant in multivariable Cox regression analyses with adjustment for other study characteristics, with hazard ratios of publication of 1.06 (95 % CI 1.02 to 1.11; p = 0.007) for logit-transformed estimates of sensitivity, 1.09 (95 % CI 1.04 to 1.14; p < 0.001) for logit-transformed estimates of specificity, and 1.09 (95 % CI 1.03 to 1.14; p = 0.001) for logit-transformed estimates of Youden's index. Time to publication was significantly shorter for studies reporting higher estimates of diagnostic accuracy compared to those reporting lower estimates. This suggests that searching and analyzing the published literature, rather than all completed studies, can produce a biased view of the performance of medical tests.

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Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 21 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Netherlands 1 5%
Unknown 20 95%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 6 29%
Student > Ph. D. Student 4 19%
Student > Master 3 14%
Lecturer > Senior Lecturer 1 5%
Student > Bachelor 1 5%
Other 1 5%
Unknown 5 24%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 8 38%
Computer Science 1 5%
Philosophy 1 5%
Psychology 1 5%
Economics, Econometrics and Finance 1 5%
Other 0 0%
Unknown 9 43%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 10. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 08 July 2016.
All research outputs
#3,099,530
of 22,876,619 outputs
Outputs from BMC Medical Research Methodology
#483
of 2,022 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#57,007
of 340,764 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Medical Research Methodology
#7
of 33 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,876,619 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 86th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,022 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 10.1. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 340,764 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 83% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 33 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its contemporaries.