FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Can wikis transform medical publishing?
Open Medicine explores the use of a wiki to update and improve
peer-reviewed systematic reviews.
OTTAWA, Tuesday, March 1—Today, Open Medicine (
openmedicine.ca) is
pleased to announce the publication of a wiki version of a new
systematic review of second-line diabetes drugs. To the best of our
knowledge, Open Medicine is the only peer-reviewed medical journal using
wikis as a publishing platform. “Knowledge is dynamic and a wiki is a
publishing tool that truly reflects that,” says Anita Palepu, MD, editor
of Open Medicine. “Our hope is that this manuscript will evolve as our
knowledge evolves and, ultimately, be improved by contributions directly
from our readers to our authors.”
The systematic review is authored by a team of researchers affiliated
with the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH;
cadth.ca). It examines the safety and efficacy of second-line type 2
diabetes drugs in patients who cannot achieve optimal control of their
blood sugar using metformin, a first-line treatment, alone. “CADTH is
always looking for innovative ways to share its products with customers.
This is an innovative, collaborative way for readers to not only comment
but contribute to our work using Wiki technology,” says Jane
Farquharson, acting vice-president, Programs, at CADTH.
According to the Canadian Diabetes Association, nine million Canadians
live with diabetes or prediabetes. By 2020, it is estimated that
diabetes will cost the healthcare system $16.9 billion per year.
Therefore, a clinician’s choice of second-line therapies has important
implications for Canadians. “Given the prevalence of diabetes and
limited dollars in health care budgets, this work is important to
examine the effectiveness of these therapies not only from a cost
perspective but also comparing them with others available to ensure
maximum benefit for the patient,“ says Farquharson.
Prior to publication as a wiki, this systematic review was peer-reviewed
to ensure it satisfied Open Medicine’s editorial standards. Access to
the wiki version will not be limited to health experts, but readers must
register, state their affiliations and complete a competing-interests
statement before they can contribute. Changes will be monitored by the
journal’s staff and substantive edits will be brought to the attention
of the review authors.
Systematic reviews can become rapidly outdated as new research is
published. Providing authors and readers with an updated document offers
several advantages, yet biomedical publishers have rarely done so. The
advantages include:
1) Changes to a wiki are publicly available as soon as they are made,
2) Wikis create a centralized document for easy editing,
3) Readers can track the changes that have been made to a document,
provided a form of post-publication peer-review;
For a more thorough discussion of the potential role of wikis in
biomedical publishing, see “Medical research and social media: Can wikis
be used as a publishing platform in medicine?” an editorial by the
editors at Open Medicine published in 2009 when the journal first
piloted a wiki.
Citation: McIntosh, B., Cameron, C., Singh, S.R., Yu, C., Ahuja, T.,
Welton, N.J., and Dahl, M. (2011) Second-line therapy in patients with
type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled with metformin monotherapy: a
systematic review and mixed-treatment comparison meta-analysis Open Med
5(1):e35-48
To access the wiki version of this article, visit:
http://livewiki.openmedicine.ca
About Open Medicine
Open Medicine is a peer-reviewed, independent, open-access general
medical journal published in Canada. It makes original medical research,
as well as reviews, commentaries and articles on practice, policy and
ethics available freely and immediately to everyone over the Internet.
It is a not-for-profit organization.
About CADTH
The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) is an
independent, not-for-profit agency funded by Canadian federal,
provincial, and territorial governments to provide credible, impartial
advice and evidence-based information about the effectiveness of drugs
and other health technologies to Canadian health care decision makers.
For more information, contact: