ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Medical humanities is a field which implies collaborative work across disciplines although the degree to which this actually occurs is unknown. Our purpose was to determine the degree of joint work in medical humanities through analysis of authorship and acknowledgements in the two main medical humanities journals. METHODS: Observational survey of authorship. We studied authorship data in all papers published in the two major general medical humanities journals between 2009 and 2018 (n=595). RESULTS: Two-thirds of papers (67.4%) had single authors, of whom a majority declared a single disciplinary affiliation (70.3%). The titles of 60.8% of papers explicitly suggested collaborative content of which 19.9% had multiple authors from more than one discipline (not within the same school); of the remainder, almost half (48.1%) had a single, single-disciplinary author (although 8.5% demonstrated interdisciplinarity in the acknowledgements). One-third of papers (193/595;33%) referenced one or more people in the acknowledgements. Among papers whose titles suggested humanities or medical content only, authorship lists of 10.2% and 17.9% respectively demonstrated collaborative scholarship. CONCLUSIONS: Despite considerable involvement from both humanities and medical practitioners, there is still substantial scope for enhanced emphasis on collaborative (multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinary) seminars and exchanges in the medical humanities and editorial policies to promote transparency of the nature of collaborative work among disciplines. Journal editors and editorial boards should reflect on the opportunity to promote enhanced visibility of joint work in scholarship in the medical humanities through reflection and review of current editorial policies.
Subject(s)
Authorship , Humanities , Editorial Policies , Health Personnel , Humans , PublicationsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Chronic pain is pain greater than 3 months duration that may result from disease, trauma, surgery, or unknown origin. The overlap between the psychological, behavioural, and management aspects of pain suggest that limbic brain neurochemistry plays a role in chronic pain pathology. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) can evaluate in vivo brain metabolites including creatine, N-acetylaspartate, myo-inositol, choline, glutamate, glutamine, and gamma-aminobutyric acid in chronic pain; however, a comprehensive systemic review of metabolite expression patterns across all brain areas has yet to be performed. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Online databases including PubMed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, OVID, and PsycINFO will be searched for articles relating to 1H-MRS and chronic pain. Study inclusion criteria will include ages of between 18 and 65 years with a definite diagnosis of chronic pain, no comorbidities, clearly stated brain volumes of interest, and imaging protocols, with comparisons to healthy controls. Two reviewers will extract data relating to volumes of interest, metabolites, study participant demographics, diagnostic method and pain scores, treatments and duration of treatment, scanner information, 1H-MRS acquisition protocols, and spectral processing software. Where possible, volumes of interest will be reassigned as regions of interest consistent with known regional anatomical and functional properties to increase the power and relevance of the analysis. Statistical analyses will then be conducted using STATA. A central common pathway may exist for chronic pain due to the behavioural manifestations and management similarities between its different types. The goal of this systemic review is to generate a comprehensive neurochemical theory of chronic pain in different brain compartments. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: This study is registered with PROSPERO CRD42018112640.
