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研究是重要的知識探索過程，採用嚴謹的研究方法與適當的統計分析技術，清楚且有系統的呈現研究發現，能促進學域知識的發展。高品質的學術論文，是學域專業彰顯最重要的支撐。因此為瞭解圖書資訊學研究的發展趨勢，其研究方法與統計分析技術的應用，是相當值得探討的議題。鑑此，本研究針對近四十年來刊登在《教育資料與圖書館學》期刊之1,540篇研究論文，進行書目計量與內容分析，並依其刊物沿革、宗旨及演進過程，將研究期間區隔為四期，探析其自1970年創刊迄2010年所刊載的論文特徵，包括文章類型、論文語文、主題類別、論文結構、研究方法及統計分析技術等面向。研究結果發現，在文章類型上，第一期的文章類型共11種類型最多；在語文類別上，以中文論文刊載為主；在主題類別上，所刊載之論文以「圖書資訊學」（66%）所占比例最高，其次是「教育」（15%）；另在論文結構部分，有42篇（2.73%）的論文採用ILMRAD結構撰寫論文，另有8篇採用IMRAD結構，且多集中於第四期。至於最常採用的研究方法為調查法，其中主題類別為「圖書資訊學」的論文採調查法（46.63%）最多；次為「教育」類論文，約12%採用調查法；而最常採用的統計分析技術是量化敘述統計（60.11％），次為T檢定（9.27％）。Research is the important process of knowledge exploration. Domain knowledge development can be improved by using research design and proper statistical methods meticulously as well as clearly and systematically displaying research results. In order to find out the evolving trend of Library and Information Science, its research design and statistical method is a topic worth exploring. By applying bibliometric and content analysis, this study investigates the 1,540 research papers published in the Journal of Educational Media & Library Sciences (JoEMLS) in the last 40 years. According to its history and mission statement, the researchers separate time span from 1970 to 2010 into four period, exploring the features of those published papers, including the type of articles, article languages, topics, structures, research designs and statistical methods. The results show as follow. During period 1, the type of articles are diversities. In addition , Chinese papers are dominate. Moreover, the top 3 categories of research papers are the study of “Library and Information Science”(66%), follows by the “Education”(15%). As for the paper structure, there are 2.73% papers applying ILMRAD and only 8 papers of them applying IMRAD. The most commonly adopted research design is Survey Method, among them, the study of “Library and Information Science” used more often (46.63%). As to the most commonly used statistical method is Descriptive Statistics (60.11%), secondly the T-Test(9.27％).

With the rapid development of information technology, scientific social networks (SSNs) have become the fastest and most convenient way for researchers to communicate with each other. Many published papers are shared via SSNs every day, resulting in the problem of information overload. How to appropriately recommend personalized and highly valuable papers for researchers is becoming more urgent. However, when recommending papers in SSNs, only a small amount of positive instances are available, leaving a vast amount of unlabelled data, in which negative instances and potential unseen positive instances are mixed together, which naturally belongs to One-Class Collaborative Filtering (OCCF) problem. Therefore, considering the extreme data imbalance and data sparsity of this OCCF problem, a hybrid approach of Social and Content aware One-class Recommendation of Papers in SSNs, termed SCORP, is proposed in this study. Unlike previous approaches recommended to address the OCCF problem, social information, which has been proved playing a significant role in performing recommendations in many domains, is applied in both the profiling of content-based filtering and the collaborative filtering to achieve superior recommendations. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed SCORP approach, a real-life dataset from CiteULike was employed. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach is superior to all of the compared approaches, thus providing a more effective method for recommending papers in SSNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to present an analysis of the use of statistical methods and tools in scientific articles related to socio-economic geography and spatial management published in the years 2012-2021. In order to evaluate the intensity and diversity of this phenomenon, a query was carried out using the Web of Sciences electronic academic information database. A preliminary literature search led to the decision to focus on papers published in three selected journals relating to social geography (Geoforum), economic geography (Applied Geography) and spatial management (Landscape and Urban Planning). The paper analyses the variety of the statistical tools used in the studies presented in the aforementioned journals. The frequency and type of the applied statistical methods, computer software and computing tools is correlated with the specificity of the research area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research is the important process of knowledge exploration. Domain knowledge development can be improved by using research design and proper statistical methods meticulously as well as clearly and systematically displaying research results. In order to find out the evolving trend of Library and Information Science, its research design and statistical method is a topic worth exploring. By applying bibliometric and content analysis, this study investigates the 1,540 research papers published in the Journal of Educational Media & Library Sciences (JoEMLS) in the last 40 years. According to its history and mission statement, the researchers separate time span from 1970 to 2010 into four period, exploring the features of those published papers, including the type of articles, article languages, topics, structures, research designs and statistical methods. The results show as follow. During period 1, the type of articles are diversities. In addition, Chinese papers are dominate. Moreover, the top 3 categories of research papers are the study of "Library and Information Science"(66%), follows by the "Education"(15%). As for the paper structure, there are 2.73% papers applying ILMRAD and only 8 papers of them applying IMRAD. The most commonly adopted research design is Survey Method, among them, the study of "Library and Information Science" used more often (46.63%). As to the most commonly used statistical method is Descriptive Statistics (60.11%), secondly the T-Test (9.27%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Non-compliance is a common challenge for researchers and may reduce the power of an intention-to-treat analysis. Whilst a per protocol approach attempts to deal with this issue, it can result in biased estimates. Several methods to resolve this issue have been identified in previous reviews, but there is limited evidence supporting their use. This review aimed to identify simulation studies which compare such methods, assess the extent to which certain methods have been investigated and determine their performance under various scenarios. Methods: A systematic search of several electronic databases including MEDLINE and Scopus was carried out from conception to 30th November 2022. Included papers were published in a peer-reviewed journal, readily available in the English language and focused on comparing relevant methods in a superiority randomised controlled trial under a simulation study. Articles were screened using these criteria and a predetermined extraction form used to identify relevant information. A quality assessment appraised the risk of bias in individual studies. Extracted data was synthesised using tables, figures and a narrative summary. Both screening and data extraction were performed by two independent reviewers with disagreements resolved by consensus. Results: Of 2325 papers identified, 267 full texts were screened and 17 studies finally included. Twelve methods were identified across papers. Instrumental variable methods were commonly considered, but many authors found them to be biased in some settings. Non-compliance was generally assumed to be all-or-nothing and only occurring in the intervention group, although some methods considered it as time-varying. Simulation studies commonly varied the level and type of non-compliance and factors such as effect size and strength of confounding. The quality of papers was generally good, although some lacked detail and justification. Therefore, their conclusions were deemed to be less reliable. Conclusions: It is common for papers to consider instrumental variable methods but more studies are needed that consider G-methods and compare a wide range of methods in realistic scenarios. It is difficult to make conclusions about the best method to deal with non-compliance due to a limited body of evidence and the difficulty in combining results from independent simulation studies. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022370910. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we address the question whether (and to what extent, respectively) altmetrics are related to the scientific quality of papers (as measured by peer assessments). Only a few studies have previously investigated the relationship between altmetrics and assessments by peers. In the first step, we analyse the underlying dimensions of measurement for traditional metrics (citation counts) and altmetrics–by using principal component analysis (PCA) and factor analysis (FA). In the second step, we test the relationship between the dimensions and quality of papers (as measured by the post-publication peer-review system of F1000Prime assessments)–using regression analysis. The results of the PCA and FA show that altmetrics operate along different dimensions, whereas Mendeley counts are related to citation counts, and tweets form a separate dimension. The results of the regression analysis indicate that citation-based metrics and readership counts are significantly more related to quality, than tweets. This result on the one hand questions the use of Twitter counts for research evaluation purposes and on the other hand indicates potential use of Mendeley reader counts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is widespread evidence that statistical methods play an important role in original research articles, especially in medical research. The evaluation of statistical methods and reporting in journals suffers from a lack of standardized methods for assessing the use of statistics. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate an instrument to assess the statistical intensity in research articles in a standardized way. Methods: A checklist-type measure scale was developed by selecting and refining items from previous reports about the statistical contents of medical journal articles and from published guidelines for statistical reporting. A total of 840 original medical research articles that were published between 2007–2015 in 16 journals were evaluated to test the scoring instrument. The total sum of all items was used to assess the intensity between sub-fields and journals. Inter-rater agreement was examined using a random sample of 40 articles. Four raters read and evaluated the selected articles using the developed instrument. Results: The scale consisted of 66 items. The total summary score adequately discriminated between research articles according to their study design characteristics. The new instrument could also discriminate between journals according to their statistical intensity. The inter-observer agreement measured by the ICC was 0.88 between all four raters. Individual item analysis showed very high agreement between the rater pairs, the percentage agreement ranged from 91.7% to 95.2%. Conclusions: A reliable and applicable instrument for evaluating the statistical intensity in research papers was developed. It is a helpful tool for comparing the statistical intensity between sub-fields and journals. The novel instrument may be applied in manuscript peer review to identify papers in need of additional statistical review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moderate-to-severe psoriasis is associated with significant comorbidity, an impaired quality of life, and increased medical costs, including those associated with treatments. Systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs) of randomized clinical trials are considered two of the best approaches to the summarization of high-quality evidence. However, methodological bias can reduce the validity of conclusions from these types of studies and subsequently impair the quality of decision making. As co-authorship is among the most well-documented forms of research collaboration, the present study aimed to explore whether authors’ collaboration methods might influence the methodological quality of SRs and MAs of psoriasis. Methodological quality was assessed by two raters who extracted information from full articles. After calculating total and per-item Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) scores, reviews were classified as low (0-4), medium (5-8), or high (9-11) quality. Article metadata and journal-related bibliometric indices were also obtained. A total of 741 authors from 520 different institutions and 32 countries published 220 reviews that were classified as high (17.2%), moderate (55%), or low (27.7%) methodological quality. The high methodological quality subnetwork was larger but had a lower connection density than the low and moderate methodological quality subnetworks; specifically, the former contained relatively fewer nodes (authors and reviews), reviews by authors, and collaborators per author. Furthermore, the high methodological quality subnetwork was highly compartmentalized, with several modules representing few poorly interconnected communities. In conclusion, structural differences in author-paper affiliation network may influence the methodological quality of SRs and MAs on psoriasis. As the author-paper affiliation network structure affects study quality in this research field, authors who maintain an appropriate balance between scientific quality and productivity are more likely to develop higher quality reviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate forecasting of electric vehicle (EV) power consumption per unit mileage serves as the cornerstone for determining diurnal variations in EV charging loads. To enhance the prediction accuracy of EV power consumption per unit mileage, this paper proposes a modelling method grounded in an improved Ant Colony Optimization-Support Vector Regression (ACO-SVR) framework. This method integrates the effects of both temperature and speed on the power consumption per unit mileage of EVs. Initially, we analyze the influence mechanism of driving speed and ambient temperature on EV power consumption, elucidating the relationship between power consumption per unit mileage and these factors. Subsequently, we construct an ACO-SVR model utilizing an improved ant colony optimization algorithm, fitting the relationship between power consumption, speed, and temperature to derive the EV power consumption per unit mileage model. Finally, leveraging operational data from EVs in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao as a case study, we validate the energy consumption model of EVs by considering factors such as ambient temperature and driving speed. The results demonstrate that the model proposed in this paper is both accurate and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several network features and information retrieval methods have been proposed to elucidate the structure of citation networks and to detect important nodes. However, it is difficult to retrieve information related to trends in an academic field and to detect cutting-edge areas from the citation network. In this paper, we propose a novel framework that detects the trend as the growth direction of a citation network using network representation learning(NRL). We presume that the linear growth of citation network in latent space obtained by NRL is the result of the iterative edge additional process of a citation network. On APS datasets and papers of some domains of the Web of Science, we confirm the existence of trends by observing that an academic field grows in a specific direction linearly in latent space. Next, we calculate each node’s degree of trend-following as an indicator called the intrinsic publication year (IPY). As a result, there is a correlation between the indicator and the number of future citations. Furthermore, a word frequently used in the abstracts of cutting-edge papers (high-IPY paper) is likely to be used often in future publications. These results confirm the validity of the detected trend for predicting citation network growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The psychometric properties of an online test are not necessarily identical to its paper and pencil original. The aim of this study is to test whether the factor structure of the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE) is measurement invariant with respect to online vs. paper and pencil assessment. Method: The factor structure of CAPE items assessed by paper and pencil (N = 796) was compared with the factor structure of CAPE items assessed by the Internet (N = 21,590) using formal tests for Measurement Invariance (MI). The effect size was calculated by estimating the Signed Item Difference in the Sample (SIDS) index and the Signed Test Difference in the Sample (STDS) for a hypothetical subject who scores 2 standard deviations above average on the latent dimensions. Results: The more restricted Metric Invariance model showed a significantly worse fit compared to the less restricted Configural Invariance model (χ2(23) = 152.75, p<0.001). However, the SIDS indices appear to be small, with an average of −0.11. A STDS of −4.80 indicates that Internet sample members who score 2 standard deviations above average would be expected to score 4.80 points lower on the CAPE total scale (ranging from 42 to 114 points) than would members of the Paper sample with the same latent trait score. Conclusions: Our findings did not support measurement invariance with respect to assessment method. Because of the small effect sizes, the measurement differences between the online assessed CAPE and its paper and pencil original can be neglected without major consequences for research purposes. However, a person with a high vulnerability for psychotic symptoms would score 4.80 points lower on the total scale if the CAPE is assessed online compared to paper and pencil assessment. Therefore, for clinical purposes, one should be cautious with online assessment of the CAPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The safety of chemicals, drugs, novel foods and genetically modified crops is often tested using repeat-dose sub-acute toxicity tests in rats or mice. It is important to avoid misinterpretations of the results as these tests are used to help determine safe exposure levels in humans. Treated and control groups are compared for a range of haematological, biochemical and other biomarkers which may indicate tissue damage or other adverse effects. However, the statistical analysis and presentation of such data poses problems due to the large number of statistical tests which are involved. Often, it is not clear whether a “statistically significant” effect is real or a false positive (type I error) due to sampling variation. The author's conclusions appear to be reached somewhat subjectively by the pattern of statistical significances, discounting those which they judge to be type I errors and ignoring any biomarker where the p-value is greater than p = 0.05. However, by using standardised effect sizes (SESs) a range of graphical methods and an over-all assessment of the mean absolute response can be made. The approach is an extension, not a replacement of existing methods. It is intended to assist toxicologists and regulators in the interpretation of the results. Here, the SES analysis has been applied to data from nine published sub-acute toxicity tests in order to compare the findings with those of the author's. Line plots, box plots and bar plots show the pattern of response. Dose-response relationships are easily seen. A “bootstrap” test compares the mean absolute differences across dose groups. In four out of seven papers where the no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) was estimated by the authors, it was set too high according to the bootstrap test, suggesting that possible toxicity is under-estimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientists often perceive a trade-off between quantity and quality in scientific publishing: finite amounts of time and effort can be spent to produce few high-quality papers or subdivided to produce many papers of lower quality. Despite this perception, previous studies have indicated the opposite relationship, in which productivity (publishing more papers) is associated with increased paper quality (usually measured by citation accumulation). We examine this question in a novel way, comparing members of the National Academy of Sciences with themselves across years, and using a much larger dataset than previously analyzed. We find that a member’s most highly cited paper in a given year has more citations in more productive years than in in less productive years. Their lowest cited paper each year, on the other hand, has fewer citations in more productive years. To disentangle the effect of the underlying distributions of citations and productivities, we repeat the analysis for hypothetical publication records generated by scrambling each author’s citation counts among their publications. Surprisingly, these artificial histories re-create the above trends almost exactly. Put another way, the observed positive relationship between quantity and quality can be interpreted as a consequence of randomly drawing citation counts for each publication: more productive years yield higher-cited papers because they have more chances to draw a large value. This suggests that citation counts, and the rewards that have come to be associated with them, may be more stochastic than previously appreciated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Detection of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in ocular tissue may perhaps provide insight into the role of VEGF in the pathogenesis and progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR). The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of VEGF in tears and serum amongst type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted between August 2016 and May 2018 involving type 2 DM patients with no DR, non-proliferative DR (NPDR), and proliferative DR (PDR). Tear samples were collected using no.41 Whatman filter paper (Schirmer strips) and 5 mL blood samples were drawn by venous puncture. VEGF levels in tears and serum were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: A total of 88 type 2 DM patients (no DR: 30 patients, NPDR: 28 patients, PDR: 30 patients) were included in the study. Mean tear VEGF levels were significantly higher in the NPDR and PDR groups (114.4 SD 52.5 pg/mL and 150.8 SD 49.7 pg/mL, respectively) compared to the no DR group (40.4 SD 26.5 pg/mL, p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the mean serum VEGF levels between the three groups. There was a fair correlation between serum and tear VEGF levels (p = 0.015, r = 0.263). Conclusion: VEGF levels in tears were significantly higher amongst diabetic patients with DR compared to those without DR and were significantly associated with the severity of DR. There was a fair correlation between serum and tear VEGF levels. Detection of VEGF in tears is a good non-invasive predictor test for the severity of DR. A large cohort study is needed for further evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the tight relationship between the picking and packing processes in warehouse management and the need to consider them as an integrated problem. The study describes and models this integrated problem as a mixed-integer programming model, to optimise overall labour costs by determining the assignment of the subsets of orders, i.e. batches, for picking and packing. To address the issue of model complexity, the paper presents a statistical-based framework for generating approximate models and selecting the optimal one through examination. Based on the examination results, a pair-swapping heuristic is additionally proposed to be combined as a hybrid algorithm. Numerical experiments based on a real-world case demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework-proposed and selected hybrid algorithm by comparison with other framework-proposed approximate models, a solver, and existing heuristics. Our findings indicate that the combined usage of integrated picking and packing processes planning and the hybrid algorithm proposed and selected within the statistical-based framework can effectively reduce the cost of warehouse management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citation metrics are increasingly used to appraise published research. One challenge is whether and how to normalize these metrics to account for differences across scientific fields, age (year of publication), type of document, database coverage, and other factors. We discuss the pros and cons for normalizations using different approaches. Additional challenges emerge when citation metrics need to be combined across multiple papers to appraise the corpus of scientists, institutions, journals, or countries, as well as when trying to attribute credit in multiauthored papers. Different citation metrics may offer complementary insights, but one should carefully consider the assumptions that underlie their calculation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meta-analysis, as a fundamental aspect of evidence-based practice, synthesizes findings from multiple studies to draw comprehensive conclusions. A critical element of this synthesis is heterogeneity - the variability in outcomes, methodologies, and characteristics across studies. This review provides an in-depth exploration of heterogeneity in meta-analyses, highlighting its types, impact, and evolution over time. It emphasizes the significance of methodological rigor in detecting and managing heterogeneity, which is crucial for the credibility and utility of meta-analytic results. We delve into the methods for evaluating heterogeneity, including statistical tests like Cochran's Q test and the I2 statistic, and visual methods such as forest plots and funnel plots. The paper also discusses strategies for managing identified heterogeneity, such as subgroup analysis, meta-regression, and sensitivity analysis, and the importance of choosing the appropriate statistical model. Advanced developments in heterogeneity evaluation, driven by statistical, technological, and methodological innovations, are also examined. This includes Bayesian approaches, individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis, and automated tools for literature search and data extraction. The review includes case studies to demonstrate the application of these methods in various research contexts, underscoring the complexity and necessity of continuous advancements in handling heterogeneity. This paper serves as a comprehensive guide for researchers, contributing to the enhancement of meta-analytic practices and the quality of research findings across disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]