Category Archives: About Resources

View the Impact of Your Research in Synapse

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Whether for a grant proposal, annual review, CV, or just plain curiosity, authors often seek to measure the impact of their research. Synapse, our database of MSK authors and their publications, is a quick and reliable source for two common research metrics: citation counts (Dimensions), and online attention (Altmetrics).  From your author profile page, you can select any of your publications and quickly view the current research impact (if available) of your work via these two products from Digital Science.

CSF1/CSF1R signaling inhibitor pexidartinib (PLX3397) reprograms tumor-associated macrophages and stimulates T-cell infiltration in the sarcoma microenvironment. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. 2021. DOI: 10.1158/1535-7163.Mct-20-0591

Taking a look at this example record, you can see that the article has been cited 45 times, according to Dimensions. Clicking on the citation badge links out to the Dimensions page, allowing you to directly see the works that have cited your article.  The article was also mentioned by 5 news outlets, 1 tweet, and has 35 readers in Mendeley.

Altmetric detail page

If you click on the colored donut you will be taken to the Altmetric page where you can view additional information regarding the paper’s online attention, such as direct links to news stories and tweets. 

They also provide additional details comparing the article to other tracked outputs of a similar age and/or source journals. Our example is in the top 5% of all research outputs tracked by Altmetric, and the top 97th percentile of all outputs from the same source journal and age. 

For assistance on research metrics or questions about Synapse, contact us. 

Discovering Clinical Trial Results: Is Searching ClinicalTrials.gov Necessary?

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When considering which databases and other information sources to search as part of the methodology for a systematic review (SR) project, SR team members often must decide how comprehensive they wish to be in their efforts to maximize the discovery of clinical trial results.

In the March 30, 2023 issue of JAMA, a research letter entitled Comparison of Availability of Trial Results in ClinicalTrials.gov and PubMed by Data Source and Funder Type “examines the dissemination and timing of trial results by data source (i.e., ClinicalTrials.gov and PubMed) and funder type (i.e., NIH, non-NIH U.S. federal agency, industry, and other).”

See:
Nelson JT, Tse T, Puplampu-Dove Y, Golfinopoulos E, Zarin DA. Comparison of Availability of Trial Results in ClinicalTrials.gov and PubMed by Data Source and Funder Type. JAMA. 2023 Mar 30:e232351. doi: 10.1001/jama.2023.2351. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36995689; PMCID: PMC10064282.

Key takeaway from this study:

“In this study, 39% of trials lacked results availability on ClinicalTrials.gov or PubMed after a minimum follow-up of 36 months following primary completion date. Nearly a quarter of all identified trial results were solely available on ClinicalTrials.gov, and 40% with available results were first available on ClinicalTrials.gov. Consistent with prior work, these findings suggest that searching both ClinicalTrials.gov and PubMed maximizes discovery of trial results.”

In addition to searching the clinical trial registry records directly from their respective native interfaces, for example, ClinicalTrials.gov or the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), records from these sources are also included in Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) database, which is included as part of the Cochrane Library.

Learn more about the MSK Library’s Systematic Review Service or Ask Us at the MSK Library if you have any questions.

Coming Changes to ClinicalTrials.gov Website

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A new installment in the ongoing project of modernizing ClinicalTrials.gov – the largest database of currently funded clinical studies in the world – will be made in June of this year.

The current ClinicalTrials.gov website will be replaced with the modernized one which will have a new look and feel and better functionality. The users will have a better way of searching, viewing, and downloading information about clinical trials.

The National Library of Medicine announcement includes information about registration for the information session about the coming change that will be offered on April 25 and provides a glimpse into more innovations that are in the pipeline.