Combating Dissemination Bias in Clinical Research: Recommendations Tip of the iceberg: Dissemination bias includes publication bias, where published papers that are exposed to readers are biased in favour of particular characteristics (e.g. positive findings). Papers with other characteristics (e.g. negative findings) are not published and, as a result, remain out of view from readers. […]
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Editors’ Picks 2015: Part Two
Clinical Trial Transparency: disclosures for new drugs below ethical and legal standards In December we surveyed our staff editors, who oversee and manage the peer review process, to tell us about their favourite articles from 2015. Part 2 looks at clinical trial transparency for new drugs. The ability of medical and healthcare professionals to select […]
Editors’ Picks 2015: Part One
2015 was another exciting year for BMJ Open, with over 1500 articles published. Since launching in 2011, we have published over 4000 articles, and we look forward to February, when the journal will celebrate its fifth anniversary. In December we surveyed our staff editors, who oversee and manage the peer review process, to tell us about […]
The importance of reviewers – 2015
The peer review process is central to scholarly research, a critical part of the publishing process and a method of quality control for the scientific community. While peer review can seem like a daunting, never-ending task at times, without it journals would not survive and continue to publish the important, accurate findings they do today. […]
Certain antidepressants linked to heightened risk of mania and bipolar disorder
Strongest association found for SSRIs and venlafaxine Taking certain antidepressants for depression is linked to a heightened risk of subsequent mania and bipolar disorder, reveals research published in the online journal BMJ Open. The strongest association seemed to be for serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs for short, and the dual action antidepressant venlafaxine, the analysis […]
Bicycling injury hospitalisation rates, clinical trial registration and women in leadership roles: Most read articles in November
Bicycling injuries, clinical trial registration, and the under-representation of women in leadership roles This month sees a lot of change in the Top 10 Most Read, with many new papers entering the list. At number one this month is Teschke et al‘s assessment of bicycling injury hospitalisation rates with relation to helmet legislation and mode shares, […]
US pedestrian wheelchair users third more likely to die in car crashes than general public
And men’s risk is five times higher than women’s, particularly among 50 to 64 year olds Pedestrian wheelchair users in the US are a third more likely to be killed in road traffic collisions than the general public, finds research published in the online journal BMJ Open. And men’s risk is five times higher than women’s, […]
BMJ launches new Chinese publishing portal: Q&A with David Wang and Huili Chen
Recently BMJ launched a publishing portal intended to help Chinese authors publish in BMJ’s portfolio of more than 60 journals, including BMJ Open. To help understand the motivations surrounding the portal, along with some of its content, we asked BMJ China’s Business Development Manager Huili Chen and the Deputy Editor of BMJ’s new journal Stroke […]
The effect of statins, obesity-related behaviours in Europe and the accuracy of Wikipedia content: Most read articles in October
Statins, obesity-related behaviours, and the accuracy of Wikipedia Several papers have entered the Top 10 Most Read this month, including Kristensen et al‘s systematic review on statins and survival in randomised trials, which tops the list. In our tenth most read article, Azer et al assess the accuracy of content of Wikipedia articles on cardiovascular diseases, and at number […]
OA Journals and Wikipedia: Open for collaboration
The theme of this year’s Open Access week is Open for Collaboration, with the aim of highlighting “the ways in which collaboration both inspires and advances the Open Access movement”. Recently BMJ Open published an article by Samy Azer and colleagues investigating whether articles in Wikipedia relating to cardiovascular disease were accurate enough to function as a suitable learning […]