Impact of archiving manuscripts in institutional/subject repositories on knowledge translation

ISRCTN ISRCTN70542690
DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN70542690
Secondary identifying numbers MOP-84476
Submission date
08/07/2008
Registration date
08/08/2008
Last edited
11/07/2014
Recruitment status
No longer recruiting
Overall study status
Completed
Condition category
Other
Prospectively registered
Protocol
Statistical analysis plan
Results
Individual participant data
Record updated in last year

Plain English summary of protocol

Not provided at time of registration

Contact information

Prof Gunther Eysenbach
Scientific

190 Elizabeth St
Toronto
M5G 2C4
Canada

Study information

Study designRandomised controlled trial
Primary study designInterventional
Secondary study designRandomised controlled trial
Study setting(s)Not specified
Study typeOther
Participant information sheet Not available in web format, please use the contact details below to request a patient information sheet
Scientific title
Study objectivesNew public policies in the United States of America (USA), Canada, and other countries stipulate that publicly funded research must be made publicly accessible, for example by depositing it in subject repositories such as PubMed Central or in institutional repositories. It is unclear if this results in higher visibility and higher number of citations. We will investigate whether manuscripts which are accessible through PubMed Central (PMC) or other repositories receive a higher citation count than manuscripts which are not made accessible through "self-archiving" (i.e., depositing manuscripts in subject
repositories).
Ethics approval(s)Ethics approval pending from the University Health Network Research Ethics Board (UHN REB) as of 10/07/2008. Application submitted on 07/07/2008.
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studiedMedical publishing
InterventionThe unit to be randomised are published manuscripts. The authors will be sending their manuscripts to be randomised so that the authors will not know whether the manuscript will be either archived on Pubmed Central (intervention) or not (control). A citation analysis will be performed every 6 months for a minimum of 3 years.

Subset analyses.
The data analysis plan involves comparing the mean number of citations as well as the proportion of uncited manuscripts between the control and intervention group every 6 months. We are also planning three separate subset analyses:
1. We will compare the two groups within discipline-specific subgroups
2. We will compare the two groups in subgroups depending on the timing of open access (e.g. a subgroup of only those articles which are immediately open access, or within a subgroup of manuscripts which are open access after 12 months)
3. We will compare the groups in subgroups of highly cited and less cited manuscripts at baseline
Intervention typeOther
Primary outcome measureCitations within the scientific literature, assessed every 6 months.
Secondary outcome measuresOther measurements for uptake and dissemination of scientific knowledge, including:
1. Citations in news articles
2. Citations on the Internet
3. Uptake by end-users and policy makers

Assessed every 6 months.
Overall study start date01/08/2008
Completion date01/08/2013

Eligibility

Participant type(s)Patient
Age groupOther
SexBoth
Target number of participants500 authors to be contacted, expected participation rate approx 40% (target sample size: 200 manuscripts)
Key inclusion criteria1. Authors of manuscripts with at least one NIH-funded co-author
2. Manuscript published between January 1st 2008 and April 7th 2008
3. Manuscript is not already accessible on PMC or as free full text elsewhere
4. The copyright policies of the journal allow 'self-archiving' on subject repositories such as PMC
Key exclusion criteria1. Authors whose email address is not listed in the affiliation field of PubMed
2. Letters, editorials, and reviews
Date of first enrolment01/08/2008
Date of final enrolment01/08/2013

Locations

Countries of recruitment

  • Canada

Study participating centre

190 Elizabeth St
Toronto
M5G 2C4
Canada

Sponsor information

University Health Network (Canada)
University/education

Centre for Global eHealth Innovation
R. Fraser Elliott Building, 4th Floor, room # 4S435
190 Elizabeth Street
Toronto
M5G 2C4
Canada

Website http://www.uhn.ca/index.htm
ROR logo "ROR" https://ror.org/042xt5161

Funders

Funder type

Research organisation

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Canada), ref: MOP-84476
Government organisation / National government
Alternative name(s)
Instituts de Recherche en Santé du Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), CIHR_IRSC, Canadian Institutes of Health Research | Ottawa ON, CIHR, IRSC
Location
Canada

Results and Publications

Intention to publish date
Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to shareNo
IPD sharing plan summaryNot provided at time of registration
Publication and dissemination planNot provided at time of registration
IPD sharing plan