The Nepal Journal of Epidemiology is the first diary of its sort in Nepal. Our chief aim in open uping this diary is to try to supply a common platform for all research workers, peculiarly those making epidemiological surveies on predominating public wellness jobs in the community. We wish to do this diary one that follows standard standards of scientific article composing with sound proficient knowhow. We have introduced several enterprises to better the quality, coverage, and transparence of research in general, and randomised tests in peculiar, by underscoring the importance of protocols. We offer to reexamine protocols to better test quality and cut down publication prejudice. We consider entries of randomized tests merely if registered and accompanied by a protocol, which is sent with the manuscript to peer referees. All who use, receive, or pay for health-care intercessions depend on counsel from dependable research findings and will desire reassurance that medical research is believable. Basically, Nepal ‘s research end product is still little. More coaction and partnerships between states in different parts of Asia and externally must be fostered. Lack of investing in research should besides be addressed by states that are capable of puting more. Research in Nepal can and should boom over the following decennary.
A brief reappraisal through about any late published medical diary will demo that statistical methods play an progressively of import function in modern medical research. Many research documents quote at least one ‘p-value ‘ to pass on their consequences while some present the consequences and the statistical analysis of medical informations in comparatively sophisticated and complex sets1-8.
After extended survey of the available literature and from the personal experience in this sphere, I would wish to venture a few recommendations for the betterment of assorted facets in medical research and its application. I believe that this brief treatment will be of great value to all professionals involved in medical research and its application.
“ Medicine is a scientific discipline of uncertainness and an art of chance ” , mused William Osler. Medical diaries are a meeting of medical specialty, scientific discipline and journalism-and are expected to hold the values of all three. The scientific discipline that underpins medical specialty is presented in diaries, and most diaries can indicate to landmark surveies that changed medical specialty. Medical diaries differ from scientific diaries in that they are chiefly read, non by scientists, but by practising physicians. Medical diaries will go on to be the chief vehicle of scientific information for old ages to come, peculiarly where entree to computing machine and cyberspace installations are comparatively limited. Presently, the output-and rewards-of research are based about wholly on published documents in scientific diaries. Scientists in low-income and middle-income scenes want an chance to analyse informations for their populations harmonizing to their ain precedences. They want to be in the frontlines of national and planetary conversations about their state ‘s experiences. Evidence-based medical specialty provides several ways to quantify and pass on uncertainness, but does so from a probabilistic instead than a human position. We can split Evidence based medicine/clinical epidemiology into two major methodological subjects: ‘statistical ‘ and ‘implementation ‘ . The usage and analysis of big tests, meta-analyses, systematic reappraisals, grounds hierarchies, cost-effectiveness analyses, and figure needed to handle would come under the ‘statistical ‘ while the improved entree to grounds through literature searching, library and critical assessment tools, guideline development, hazard framing, etc. would be ‘implementation ‘ . Research workers welcome clinical uncertainness as a beginning of cognition spreads, whose replies will be meaningful to clinicians and patients. Clinical epidemiology Bridgess clinical pattern and public wellness.
Policies notwithstanding, despite suggestions to observe and extinguish research misconduct, developing in research moralss, criterions and responsible behavior is frequently minimum or absent in academe. The quality of medical diaries depends on several factors affecting three groups of people: viz. the writers, the referees and the editors. Deciding who should be listed as an writer is non simple, and excessively frequently the determination is made on the footing of power. The powerful are included, even when they have done nil, and the weak are excluded, even though they have done most of the work. This unethical behavior can go a major job if the survey proves to be deceitful, as has happened many times. Sometimes diaries receive coverage in the media that makes them squirm, peculiarly when they are exposed as holding published research that is deceitful. I worry that diaries are being polluted by misconduct and that editors are non reacting adequately.
Scientific reading will heighten the quality of scientific authorship. Critical reading and thought will supply a relevant, interesting, executable, ethical and fresh research hypothesis.
The writer or research worker planning on a research survey and publication should seek in Medline, PubMed and other hunt engines for relevant reappraisals and literature of similar surveies in universe and national scenario. These surveies must be examined for strengths and failings, and the research worker must use needed alterations for new cognition. It will assist the writer enormously in the authorship of the debut, treatment and decision portion of the manuscript.
Before get downing informations aggregation, the research worker should make up one’s mind upon the survey design, mark population, sample size and trying method, inclusion exclusion standards, survey period, survey variable, outcome steps and units of measuring, definition of all the footings and variables and their categorization. After careful consideration, the methodological analysis of informations aggregation and the method of informations analysis, including the computing machine bundles and statistical methods, should be chosen. The instruments or questionnaire used to mensurate the variables should be described right and if others have developed them, referenced decently. A research worker should be good cognizant of the constructs of different types of informations and variables, two types of mistakes ( type I and type II mistakes ) , computation of sample size, significance degree, assurance interval, proving of hypothesis and power of the test1-11. Once these standards are followed, the writers should assign paragraphs for each one of them in the stuff and methods portion of the manuscript, thereby increasing the quality of the survey. This punctilious planning and executing will be utile to new research workers in this country.
The column direction is a important portion of the publication procedure. The editors begin action with the reception of the manuscript by directing the assorted stairss of rating, rectification and re-submission, until an column determination is taken to accept the paper as is, accept it after alteration or reject it if it is unacceptable. They so make necessary text and layout redaction. Due consideration is given to the statistical, multilingual and ethical facets every bit good as to the overall uniformity of the nomenclature, terminology and manner throughout the volume as a whole.
Experts review plays a polar function on keeping the quality of a medical diary. A referee is required to turn to a figure of of import facets of the paper and to do recommendation refering the acceptableness of the paper.
Findingss of good research deserve to be presented good, and a good presentation is every bit much a portion of the research as the painstaking aggregation and analysis of the informations. Critical assessment of 150 articles published in a reputed medical diary in Nepal reveals that in more than 70 % articles experienced biostatisticians were non involved or well contributed ( non co authored ) , more than 65 % surveies sample size computation were incorrect and 80 % of the article with unequal statistical inside informations and incorrect statistical trials.
Critical referees of the biomedical literature have systematically found that more than half of the published articles ( including scientific articles, published even in the best diaries ) that used statistical methods contained unacceptable mistakes 1-11.
The term “ statistics ” here in this context, has a wider significance and includes the methodological analysis of research, survey design, or epidemiological methodological analysis etc 1-8. The major applications of biometricss started in the center of the seventeenth century in the analysis of critical statistics. After the early developments in critical statistics, the field of genetic sciences was the following country that benefited most from the new statistical thoughts emerging in the plants of Charles Darwin ( 1809-1882 ) , Francis Galton ( 1822-1910 ) , Karl Pearson ( 1857-1936 ) , and Ronald A. Fisher ( 1890-1962 ) . Now, the Fieldss of application and countries of concern of biometricss include grounds based medical specialty, bio-assaies, public wellness, wellness service research, nutrition, environmental wellness, human ecology, epidemiology, studies of human populations, community diagnosing, bio-mathematical modeling, clinical tests, encephalon imagination, genomics and proteomics. Computer-based statistical bundles have non yet been given expertness to make up one’s mind the right method although they sometimes generate a warning message when the informations are non equal. The user of the bundle decides the method9.
The existent solution to hapless statistical coverage will come when writers learn more about the statistical methods in research design and when statisticians are able to convey the importance of the methods used in the survey to writers, editors, and readers ; when research workers begin to affect statisticians from the beginning of research, non at its terminal ; when manuscript editors begin to understand and to use statistical coverage and redacting guidelines ; when the diaries are able to test the articles incorporating statistical analyses more carefully ; and when readers learn more about how to construe statistics and get down to anticipate and demand, equal statistical reporting7. A research worker should ne’er waver to inquire for professional aid from a biostatistician to be after the survey or experiment.
There may be valuable research traveling on in developing and financially less-privileged states, but it normally does non make international visibleness, in malice of a big figure of scientific diaries in these states. Such diaries are non merely unseeable but by perpetuating a barbarous circle of insufficiency, may be straight damaging to the local scientific discipline and research civilization. Diaries should forestall this by building an column board including qualified editors from developed and developing states in the column board.
I recommend biostatisticians to fall in as editors and referees in order to assist explicate journal policy, audit the quality of statistics in published documents, aid bring forth statistical guidelines or checklists for writers, educate editors, provide explanatory statistical remarks on published documents, and write expository articles about statistical affairs in diaries.
Conflict of Interests
The writer has no struggle of involvement originating from the survey.