Dataset Information

Making headlines: an analysis of US government-funded cancer research mentioned in online media.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To characterise how online media coverage of journal articles on cancer funded by the US government varies by cancer type and stage of the cancer control continuum and to compare the disease prevalence rates with the amount of funded research published for each cancer type and with the amount of media attention each receives.

Design

A cross-sectional study.

Setting

The United States.

Participants

The subject of analysis was 11?436 journal articles on cancer funded by the US government published in 2016. These articles were identified via PubMed and characterised as receiving online media attention based on data provided by Altmetric.

Results

16.8% (n=1925) of articles published on US government-funded research were covered in the media. Published journal articles addressed all common cancers. Frequency of journal articles differed substantially across the common cancers, with breast cancer (n=1284), lung cancer (n=630) and prostate cancer (n=586) being the subject of the most journal articles. Roughly one-fifth to one-fourth of journal articles within each cancer category received online media attention. Media mentions were disproportionate to actual burden of each cancer type (ie, incidence and mortality), with breast cancer articles receiving the most media mentions. Scientific articles also covered the stages of the cancer continuum to varying degrees. Across the 13 most common cancer types, 4.4% (n=206) of articles focused on prevention and control, 11.7% (n=550) on diagnosis and 10.7% (n=502) on therapy.

Conclusions

Findings revealed a mismatch between prevalent cancers and cancers highlighted in online media. Further, journal articles on cancer control and prevention received less media attention than other cancer continuum stages. Media mentions were not proportional to actual public cancer burden nor volume of scientific publications in each cancer category. Results highlight a need for continued research on the role of media, especially online media, in research dissemination.

SUBMITTER: Maggio LA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6368156 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Making headlines: an analysis of US government-funded cancer research mentioned in online media.

Maggio Lauren A LA Ratcliff Chelsea L CL Krakow Melinda M Moorhead Laura L LL Enkhbayar Asura A Alperin Juan Pablo JP

BMJ open 20190219 2

<h4>Objective</h4>To characterise how online media coverage of journal articles on cancer funded by the US government varies by cancer type and stage of the cancer control continuum and to compare the disease prevalence rates with the amount of funded research published for each cancer type and with the amount of media attention each receives.<h4>Design</h4>A cross-sectional study.<h4>Setting</h4>The United States.<h4>Participants</h4>The subject of analysis was 11 436 journal articles on cancer ...[more]

PMID: 30782941

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundNew metrics have been developed to assess the impact of research and provide an indication of online media attention and data dissemination. We aimed to describe online media attention of articles evaluating cancer treatments and identify the factors associated with high online media attention.MethodsWe systematically searched MEDLINE via PubMed on March 1, 2015 for articles published during the first 6 months of 2014 in oncology and medical journals with a diverse range of impact factors, from 3.9 to 54.4, and selected a sample of articles evaluating a cancer treatment regardless of study design. Altmetric Explorer was used to identify online media attention of selected articles. The primary outcome was media attention an article received online as measured by Altmetric score (i.e., number of mentions in online news outlets, science blogs and social media). Regression analysis was performed to investigate the factors associated with high media attention, and regression coefficients represent the logarithm of ratio of mean (RoM) values of Altmetric score per unit change in the covariate.ResultsAmong 792 articles, 218 (27.5%) received no online media attention (Altmetric score = 0). The median [Q1-Q3] Altmetric score was 2.0 [0.0-8.0], range 0.0-428.0. On multivariate analysis, factors associated with high Altmetric score were presence of a press release (RoM = 10.14, 95%CI [4.91-20.96]), open access to the article (RoM = 1.48, 95%CI [1.02-2.16]), and journal impact factor (RoM = 1.10, 95%CI [1.07-1.12]. As compared with observational studies, systematic reviews were not associated with high Altmetric score (RoM = 1.46, 95%CI [0.74-2.86]; P = 0.27), nor were RCTs (RoM = 0.65, 95%CI [0.41-1.02]; P = 0.059) and phase I/II non-RCTs (RoM = 0.58, 95%CI [0.33-1.05]; P = 0.07). The articles with abstract conclusions favouring study treatments were not associated with high Altmetric score (RoM = 0.97, 95%CI [0.60-1.58]; P = 0.91).ConclusionsMost important factors associated with high online media attention were the presence of a press release and the journal impact factor. There was no evidence that study design with high level of evidence and type of abstract conclusion were associated with high online media attention.

Dataset Information

Making headlines: an analysis of US government-funded cancer research mentioned in online media.

Objective

Design

Setting

Participants

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Making headlines: an analysis of US government-funded cancer research mentioned in online media.

Similar Datasets

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