Source Selection: The Importance of Disclosure

CONTENT AND CONTEXT

Knowledge is power.

Always get the best information.

Find the right resources.

You will have heard me say these things many times in MStranslate posts.

When I write summaries of research articles, I use sources that are demonstrably rigorous and transparent.

With these starting points, I can analyse, review and  reach conclusions on the validity of specific studies based on years of training and learned experience.

When you are looking for valid, online information, how do you make these decisions?

BE AWARE

For me, there are a number of factors that I assess initially to give me the right perspective on a study.  Over the coming weeks, I’ll write detailed articles on each of these and how they can affect the conclusions to be drawn from research papers.

The main ones I always check are:

• The publishing journal
• The authors involved
• The date
• The number of citations
• Conflicts of interest and funding

FOLLOW THE MONEY

In many crime movies or TV shows, they always say, “Follow the money”.

In much the same way, it is important to be aware of a study’s funding sources in order to identify context.  If I see an article that tells me that smoking improves lung function and doesn’t cause cancer, I will look to see if it was funded by a vested interest.

Beyond that extreme example, this can be easier said than done for context does not automatically mean influence.

Let’s look at a recent MS example – a recent publication in BMC Neurology (a ‘tick’ for this journal) has shown that women taking Tysabri have no increased risk of complications during pregnancy.

This is obviously great news and important information for women with MS who may be taking Tysabri, but also interested in starting a family.

Scroll down to the bottom of the article, however, and you will find the following statement:

Competing interests

SF, SR, GB, LMC, and MW are employees of and hold stock and/or stock options in Biogen.

If you aren’t aware, Biogen owns and manufactures Tysabri.

This level of disclosure is crucial and is often required by reputable journals.  Equal transparency in methods and reporting are also vital to make independent assessments of quality.

So where does this take us?

EYES WIDE OPEN

In reaching your own conclusions on the quality of a specific study, there are things you should always look for and things you should never miss.  You can’t make hasty, sloppy or uninformed decisions for that would be a disservice to the field and to individuals.

This is why the scientific principles, methods and values we have discussed previously are so important.

You should be able to reach reasoned conclusions independent of context.  If the content of an article is not sufficient to support a valid and reliable assessment, context is irrelevant.  Context cannot overcome unsatisfactory content!

You should still expect context to be disclosed, for transparency is absolute.  If authors think you don’t need to worry about context, perhaps you should be worried!

You should be able to justify your assessment.  This will demonstrate the level of effort you have made.  It is just as poor to dismiss a technically strong study on the basis of context as it is to accept a technically weak study regardless of context.

There are very big differences between scientific assessments, personal opinions and being stridently opinionated!  Make informed assessments – don’t jump to unsupported conclusions.