SOCIAL MEDIA IN SCIENCE

Day by day, social media are entering our lives changing our every-day life and habits. This could not leave science unaffected. Over the last years, a lot of scientists have started using social media, exchanging ideas and sharing knowledge. Scientific journals have also followed being active participators in the social media world. In this opinion article we provide some arguments about the positive role of social media in the life of a scientist, highlighting at the same time the caveats that are encountered.  

INFLUENCE OF CITATION PRACTICES ON ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT

In writing scientific papers, proper citation and referencing are crucial and thereby should be taught to graduate students and novice researchers as tools for counteracting the pervasive errors in citing, quoting, and referencing. Although the relevance of citation counts and derived indicators such as the h-index in assessing research performance is out of question, this emphasis has resulted in an “impact or perish” culture featuring post-production misrepresentation and related misbehaviors. Herein, I appraise the use of citations in academic assessment, citations in original vs. review articles, convenience and country of origin biases, and some related issues. The current landscape highlights that formal instruction on citation practices and their implications should be included in graduate programs and enduringly reinforced by mentors in laboratories.

Global Health Strategies in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Unprecedented Threats

Global health is evolving as a discipline aiming at exploring needs and offering equitable health services for all people. Over the past four decades, several global initiatives have been introduced to improve the accessibility of primary health care (PHC) and solve most health issues at this level. Historically, the 1978 Alma-Ata and 2018 Astana Declarations were perhaps the most important documents for a comprehensive approach to PHC services across the world. With the introduction of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, developments in all spheres of human life and multi-sectoral cooperation became the essential action targets that could contribute to improved health, well-being, and safety of all people. Other global initiatives such as the Riyadh Declaration on Digital Health and São Paulo Declaration on Planetary Health called to urgent action to employ advanced digital technologies, improve health data processing, and invest more in research management. All these initiatives are put to the test in the face of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and other unprecedented threats to humanity.

PUBLONS BASED PROFILING OF TURKISH REVIEWERS AND ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS

Introduction: Publons is the most prestigious and well-organized platform that allows to evaluate peer review metrics. It also provides publication and citation data as it is synchronized with the Web of Science. There are socio-cultural ties between Central Asian countries and Turkey, and these countries can take Turkey as a model for scientific development. Therefore, it will be useful for Central Asian countries to summarize Turkey's Publons activities. In this study, we used Publons database to list the top institutions, researchers and reviewers in Turkey. Methods: Publons database was used to export the data on October 10, 2021. The top 20 researchers were identified in terms of the number of verified reviews. Additionally, the top 20 institutions were determined in terms of the number of researchers, number of verified reviews and top reviewers. Results: On Publons, 57464 registered researchers from Turkey were found (ranked 7th) and 484 of these researchers had top reviewer status (ranked 16th). A total of 175644 verified reviews were detected from Turkey-based researchers (ranked 16th) and of which 45835 were performed in the last 12 months (ranked 14th). Based on the total number of researchers, four institutions from Turkey were in the top 100 in the world rankings (Hacettepe University, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, and Cukurova University). There were no institutions from Turkey among the top 100 in the lists created according to the number of verified reviews and top reviewers. Conclusion: Turkey has a considerable number of researchers registered with Publons. However, Turkey should follow a scientific route in terms of verified reviews. Turkey and Central Asian countries can create scientific collaborations and cooperative projects. Thus, Central Asian countries will benefit from Turkey's experiences.

EMBRACING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR GENERATING AND TESTING HYPOTHESES

EMBRACING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR GENERATING AND TESTING HYPOTHESES

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCHERS CONFRONTING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a global challenge to be confronted by the biomedical community. This article aimed to explore how knowledgeable and competent researchers may contribute to fighting the pandemic, and to discuss the ethics and impact of this endeavor. Many medical researchers and in particular clinical practitioners are engaged in collecting new evidence and creating new knowledge by undertaking pandemic-related research. This research is frequently unplanned, and subsequently numerous obstacles to starting new but necessary studies must be overcome. To contribute research evidence in hard times represents a highly ethical move. Moreover, these new studies need ethical approvals, financial resources, and institutional frameworks. Another pandemic-related challenge is how to generate expert opinions during the period when solid evidence is missing. Unlike research studies providing necessary scientific evidence, expert opinions do not need ethical approvals or disclosures of competing interests. The apparent contrast of evidence-based versus opinion-based decision-making during the pandemic reconfirms that quality research studies have no alternatives at all times.

ANALYSIS OF YOUTUBE VIDEOS ON PULMONARY REHABILITATION IN COVID-19

Introduction: YouTube is a popular social media platform frequently searched by online users for retrieving health-related information. Pulmonary rehabilitation programs have an important place in the COVID-19 treatment protocols. The aim of this study was to evaluate COVID-19 pulmonary rehabilitation videos on YouTube. Methods:  A total of 180 videos tagged with the search terms “COVID-19 pulmonary rehabilitation”, “COVID-19 pulmonary exercise” and “COVID-19 pulmonary physiotherapy” were retrieved. Of these, 63 videos met the study inclusion criteria. The Global Quality Scale (GQS) and the modified DISCERN tool were performed for quality and reliability assessments. Duration of video, upload date, number of views, likes, dislikes, and comments were recorded. Video sources were determined. Results: Of the total 63 videos, 22 (34.9%) were classified in the high-quality group, 19 (30.2%) intermediate quality group, and 22 (34.9%) low quality group. The main sources of the high-quality videos were universities and physicians. Others, patients, independent users and health related websites produced high rates of low-quality videos. No significant difference was detected in views, likes, dislikes, and comments per day between the quality groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Numbers of high, intermediate and low-quality videos were very close to each other. It is necessary to consider the video sources in order to find videos that contains accurate information. Video parameters other than sources should not be considered as quality indicators.

RESEARCH DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: THE USE OF CLOUD-BASED IMAGE ANALYSIS

RESEARCH DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: THE USE OF CLOUD-BASED IMAGE ANALYSIS

ONLINE TOOLS AND PLATFORMS FOR SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES SHOULD BE CONTINUOUSLY DEVELOPED

ONLINE TOOLS AND PLATFORMS FOR SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES SHOULD BE CONTINUOUSLY DEVELOPED