I join Chris [ https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/communicating-health-research-11-q1-wha... ] to thank Neil for his introduction to this discussion [ https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/communicating-health-research-10-q1-wha... ]. I also align with the content of Chris's contribution. But it is important to note that the traditional pathway of research to publication and then policy and maybe practice has been undergoing an evolution since about 1990 / 1991 when the internet became available to the civilian world. Since then, every level of the pathway has been impacted by the evolution (some say revolution) in research and publication.
Today, researchers can pre-print their work before or whilst they submit their manuscript to a journal of choice, thereby side-stepping traditional peer review scrutiny. The result is that before the peer reviewed and 'approved' research report is published, policy makers already have seen and / or read the unscrutinised version. Therefore, increasingly, policy is informed by the un-peer reviewed pre print and implementation already on the way before the 'approved' peer reviewed version is published. Retractions have been known to happen, too late before harm has happened in some instances. It can also have serious consequences for all the stakeholders (end user / community, implementer, policy makers, researcher, etc), as was frequently the case when the covid-19 pandemic was at its peak in 2020, for example the mis-information and dis-information about the pandemic, including the correct treatment, the vaccines and in some instances there are doubters who question whether there is a pandemic at al, even with all the incredible level of mortality and socio-economic damage, everywhere. This relatively 'new' world of research to publication to policy makers and practice needs to take account of the effects of such unregulated open access.
One other influencer or confounder of the current research to publishing to policy to practice pathway is the blog!. In the beginning, about 1994, again with the availability of the internet, what has now more or less settled with the title, 'Blog' had several monikers: 'online diary', 'personal web page', 'web blog', etc, with the common denominator, that they represent personal opinion which is not peer reviewed. The initiated (researcher, author, journals, subject experts, etc) know that blogs are personal opinion, without peer review but the uninitiated politician-policy maker does not know that. Today, blogging in addition to being largely for fun, is increasingly being used to 'report' some research finding or observations, by-passing the tradition peer review scrutiny, just like the pre-print.
So, in creating necessary links and cooperation for communicating research to inform policy makers, HIFA can highlight and educate policy makers to be aware of these new methods by which some researchers by-pass traditional peer scrutiny, which may impact negatively on implementation of policy derived from them, when eventually the approved peer reviewed research result is published. Preprints and Blogs apart from the labels, need to carry some Alert sign, especially for the uninitiated politician-policy maker, so that they and other readers including initiated policy makers and the media know that these are the personal opinion of the researcher. And that the report may change after peer review and therefore should not be the basis for making Policy. The same awareness should be applied if secondary (systematic review, meta analysis) or tertiary level (guidelines and policy briefs) researches reports are being used / prepared: that is, information from pre prints and blogs, should be marked as such, so that users should know that the information may change later.
Joseph Ana
Prof Joseph Ana
Lead Senior Fellow/ medicalconsultant.
Center for Clinical Governance Research &
Patient Safety (ACCGR&PS)
P: +234 (0) 8063600642
E: info@hri-global.org
8 Amaku Street, State Housing &20 Eta Agbor Road,
Calabar,Nigeria.
www.hri-global.org
HIFA profile: Joseph Ana is the Lead Consultant and Trainer at the Africa Centre for Clinical Governance Research and Patient Safety in Calabar, Nigeria, established by HRI Global (former HRIWA). In 2015 he won the NMA Award of Excellence for establishing 12-Pillar Clinical Governance, Quality and Safety initiative in Nigeria. He has been the pioneer Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) National Committee on Clinical Governance and Research since 2012. He is also Chairman of the Quality & Performance subcommittee of the Technical Working Group for the implementation of the Nigeria Health Act. He is a pioneer Trustee-Director of the NMF (Nigerian Medical Forum) which took the BMJ to West Africa in 1995. He is particularly interested in strengthening health systems for quality and safety in LMICs. He has written Five books on the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance for LMICs, including a TOOLS for Implementation. He established the Department of Clinical Governance, Servicom & e-health in the Cross River State Ministry of Health, Nigeria in 2007. Website: www.hri-global.org. Joseph is a member of the HIFA Steering Group and the HIFA working group on Community Health Workers. Website: www.hri-global.com Joseph is a member of the HIFA Steering Group and the HIFA working group on Community Health Workers. http://www.hifa.org/support/members/joseph-0 http://www.hifa.org/people/steering-group Email: info@hri-global.org and jneana AT yahoo.co.uk
