What we published in 2018: making a mark on the peer-reviewed literature

2018 medical literature

2018 was been a productive year for researchers in the Department of Medicine. How productive? Members published at least 452 peer-reviewed research and scholarly articles – more than one per day.

And that’s almost certainly an underestimate. Some journals will still be populating article from 2018 in databases for the next several weeks. And despite best efforts, publications can be inadvertently missed. (Know of a missing publication? Please submit information online so we can improve the list below.)

Throughout the year, NCBI PubMed literature searches are run for Vital Signs publication listings. The queries are conducted by staff members at Ebling Health Sciences Library including Heidi Marleau, MLS, associate director and health sciences librarian. The references are managed in EndNote. Each set of results is reviewed by Vital Signs editor Robyn Perrin, PhD, public affairs and communications manager, Department of Medicine, to combine them with any additional publications that were self-reported by department members for each 2-week period and to cross-check departmental affiliation.

Criteria for inclusion are broad: 1) at least one author was a member of the Department of Medicine (primary-appointment faculty, resident, fellow, or staff) at the time the work was conducted, and 2) the work has been released by the journal rather than being in-press. Thus, the publication list includes a wide range of peer-reviewed work encompassing basic science research, clinical trials, translational studies, scholarly reviews and editorials, and more.

No search query is perfect. Although the custom search query includes faculty names and institutional and departmental affiliation, among other parameters, there isn’t a standard taxonomy within the primary literature for listing institutional affiliation at the departmental unit level. And some journals, including several in the field of medical education, are not listed in PubMed.

What can be gleaned from the annual list of references? A preliminary analysis provides insight to the scope, breadth, and depth of research activity in the department.

Department of Medicine members have published in the vast majority of the most impactful journals listed in the Health and Medicine subcategory of Google Scholar that are relevant to the field of internal medicine and its specialties. And the impact of each article follows a unique path, sometimes shaping entire fields of study and in other cases providing confirmation, validation, or clarification of a highly specific area of inquiry.

As the new year begins, scholars in the department maintain continual dedication to transformative research that creates new knowledge – a commitment that will extend into 2019, and beyond.

Publications:

This list is arranged alphabetically by last name of the first author, and linked to its corresponding abstract on PubMed (if available). Notice a missing peer-reviewed article that was published in 2018? Contact us.

Robyn Perrin, PhD