For supposedly clever people, we academics are complete mugs. Not only do we give away our research for publishers to make a profit1, our institutions pay hefty subscriptions just to access it, or pay even more if we want to make it freely available.
This social pressure for “unmet medical needs” is, in many times, used as an argument for faster drugs approvals pathways. Access to new technologies is important but a balance between access, the cost of clinical drug trials and ensuring robust evidence, “relevant, replicable, and accessible to end users” is required.
In the new era of evidence-based medicine, ‘newly qualified doctors must be able to apply scientific methods and approaches to medical research and integrate these with a range of sources of information used to make decisions for care’
Despite advancement, the way we write and report the findings from our research hasn’t really changed all that much in this same 100-year time frame. The ‘IMRAD’ model of writing academic papers appeared in the mid 20th century, and still forms the backbone of how we write papers today.
Why? How? What (needs improving)?
The answer is simple: By prospectively specifying them. Not only does this provide a roadmap for the review team, it also reduces the risk that the methods are being modified during the systematic review process depending on the results, thus introducing bias.
If you are active in research you will no doubt have an inbox full of unsolicited emails from journals asking for your papers. Here’s an example from my inbox: ‘It’s
A bright future for distance-learning? Challenges and potential solutions The late advances in communication allowed distance barriers to dramatically become less important when it refers to continuing education. At the
advocating for representation of conflict-free physicians on guideline panels, clinical trials, and editorial boards. The presence of for-profit companies in biomedical research is unlikely to fade, but physicians that serve only one master — patients — may continue to rise.
The event will be essential to anyone interested in ensuring evidence users have systematic access to the best available evidence.
Are you a student, junior doctor or early-mid career researcher passionate about improving healthcare? Georgia Richards and Peter Gill, explain why EBMLive is the place for future leaders in EBM.