A bibliometric measure of translational science
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A bibliometric measure of translational science Yeon Hak Kim1 · Aaron D. Levine2 · Eric J. Nehl3 · John P. Walsh2 Received: 1 April 2020 © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary 2020
Abstract Science funders are increasingly requiring evidence of the broader impacts of even basic research. Initiatives such as NIH’s CTSA program are designed to shift the research focus toward more translational research. However, tracking the effectiveness of such programs depends on developing indicators that can track the degree to which basic research is influencing clinical research. We propose a new bibliometric indicator, the TS score, that is relatively simple to calculate, can be implemented at scale, is easy to replicate, and has good reliability and validity properties. This indicator is broadly applicable in settings where the goal is to estimate the degree to which basic research is used in more applied downstream research, relative to use in basic research. The TS score should be of use for a variety of policy analysis and research evaluation purposes. Keywords Translational research · Indicators · Citation analysis · Research evaluation
Introduction Every year, the U.S. National Institutes of Health spends about $40B to promote the NIH mission of “turning discovery into health”. Much of this money supports upstream basic research, with the goal of building up the scientific basis for the development of new drugs and medical treatments as well as other means of promoting health. However, there have been longstanding concerns about the challenge of translating this basic research into improved health outcomes (Zerhouni 2005; Williams et al. 2015). While there have been significant advances in basic biomedical knowledge, concerns have been raised that this knowledge—primarily generated in academic research labs—is not being integrated effectively into the clinical research system, potentially slowing the discovery and commercialization of new drugs and treatments. Recognizing this challenge, countries across the globe have instituted programs that aim to facilitate the movement of promising basic research from the laboratory bench to the bedside (Butler 2008; Blümel 2017). In 2005, the US NIH announced the * John P. Walsh [email protected] 1
Ministry of Science and ICT, Sejong, Republic of Korea
2
School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
3
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
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Scientometrics
establishment of the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program (Zerhouni 2005). As NIH director Zerhouni said when announcing the program, the goal is to “ensure that extraordinary scientific advances of the past decade will be rapidly captured, translated, and disseminated for the benefit of all Americans.” In 2010, the UK increased the budget of the Medical Research Council (MRC), with the aim of increasing support for translational research (Medical Research Councils UK 2017). This was a part of the MRC’s Translational Re
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