title: Tackling the "so what" problem in scientific research: a systems-based approach to resource and publication tracking.
abstract: Peer-reviewed publications are one measure of scientific productivity. From a project, program, or institutional perspective, publication tracking provides the quantitative data necessary to guide the prudent stewardship of federal, foundation, and institutional investments by identifying the scientific return for the types of support provided. In this article, the authors describe the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research's (VICTR's) development and implementation of a semiautomated process through which publications are automatically detected in PubMed and adjudicated using a "just-in-time" workflow by a known pool of researchers (from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Meharry Medical College) who receive support from Vanderbilt's Clinical and Translational Science Award. Since implementation, the authors have (1) seen a marked increase in the number of publications citing VICTR support, (2) captured at a more granular level the relationship between specific resources/services and scientific output, (3) increased awareness of VICTR's scientific portfolio, and (4) increased efficiency in complying with annual National Institutes of Health progress reports. They present the methodological framework and workflow, measures of impact for the first 30 months, and a set of practical lessons learned to inform others considering a systems-based approach for resource and publication tracking. They learned that contacting multiple authors from a single publication can increase the accuracy of the resource attribution process in the case of multidisciplinary scientific projects. They also found that combining positive (e.g., congratulatory e-mails) and negative (e.g., not allowing future resource requests until adjudication is complete) triggers can increase compliance with publication attribution requests.
authors.affiliation: P.A. Harris is director, Office of Research Informatics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. J. Kirby is project manager, Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. J.A. Swafford was health systems analyst, Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, at the time this article was written. T.L. Edwards is program manager, Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. M. Zhang is health systems analyst, Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. T.R. Yarbrough is program manager, Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. L.D. Lane is director of administration, Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. T. Helmer is research services consultant, Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. G.R. Bernard is associate vice chancellor for research, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. J.M. Pulley is director, Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee.
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kirby
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Swafford
authors.forename: Terri L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: Minhua
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Tonya R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Yarbrough
authors.forename: Lynda D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Lane
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Helmer
authors.forename: Gordon R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Bernard
authors.forename: Jill M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pulley
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D006077:Government Agencies; D006801:Humans; D017712:Peer Review, Research; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011642:Publications / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011643:Publishing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012109:Research Support as Topic; D013714:Tennessee; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical