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Review
. 2022 Jul 1;90(S1):S32-S40.
doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000002963.

Data Velocity in HIV-Related Implementation Research: Estimating Time From Funding to Publication

Sheree R Schwartz  1 , Joel Chavez Ortiz  1 , Justin D Smith  2 , Laura K Beres  3 , Aaloke Mody  4 , Ingrid Eshun-Wilson  4 , Nanette Benbow  5 , Deepthi P Mallela  1 , Stephen Tan  1 , Stefan Baral  1 , Elvin Geng  4   6
Affiliations
Review

Data Velocity in HIV-Related Implementation Research: Estimating Time From Funding to Publication

Sheree R Schwartz et al. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. .

Abstract

Background: Given available effective biomedical and behavioral prevention and treatment interventions, HIV-related implementation research (IR) is expanding. The rapid generation and dissemination of IR to inform guidelines and practice has the potential to optimize the impact of the Ending the Epidemic Initiative and the HIV pandemic response more broadly.

Methods: We leveraged a prior mapping review of NIH-funded awards in HIV and IR from January 2013 to March 2018 and identified all publications linked to those grants in NIH RePORTER through January 1, 2021 (n = 1509). Deduplication and screening of nonoriginal research reduced the count to 1032 articles, of which 952 were eligible and included in this review. Publication volume and timing were summarized; Kaplan-Meier plots estimated time to publication.

Results: Among the 215 NIH-funded IR-related awards, 127 of 215 (59%) published original research directly related to the grant, averaging 2.0 articles (SD: 3.3) per award, largely in the early IR phases. Many articles (521 of 952, 55%) attributed to grants did not report grant-related data. Time from article submission to publication averaged 205 days (SD: 107). The median time-to-first publication from funding start was 4 years. Data dissemination velocity varied by award type, trending toward faster publication in recent years. Delays in data velocity included (1) time from funding to enrollment, (2) enrollment length, and (3) time from data collection completion to publication.

Conclusion: Research publication was high overall, and time-to-publication is accelerating; however, over 40% of grants have yet to publish findings from grant-related data. Addressing bottlenecks in the production and dissemination of HIV-related IR would reinforce its programmatic and policy relevance in the HIV response.

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Conflict of interest statement

E.G. has received non–drug-related funding from ViiV healthcare. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
PRISMA Diagram of NIH Funded HIV-related Implementation Research Grants and Published Articles included in the Data Velocity Analysis
Figure 2:
Figure 2:. Schematic of steps across the research production and dissemination cascade.
Steps in blue show the average number of years (mean, standard deviation and number of papers included) for each research step from the 431 publications included in the review. Denominators vary based on reporting in papers and by journals. Data collection dates that precede study awards were excluded within the step. Thus, the overall mean years from award data to publication for grant-related original research articles in green includes all 431 articles and represents a shorter period, given that data collection included within the articles often preceded study award dates. Studies that did not publish one or more original research papers are excluded from this figure.
Figure 3:
Figure 3:
Time from grant award to publication of first, third and fifth original research publications directly related to the award in years, overall and excluding K-awards
Figure 4:
Figure 4:
Time from grant award to first grant-related publication in years, stratified by (a) Year of funding, excluding 2018 due to small sample size; (b) Study region; (c) Grant mechanism; (d) Implementation Research (IR) Continuum at grant level
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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