Measuring the Uptake of Pharmacoepidemiologic Research Through Qualitative Analysis of Citations: A Case Study from a Canadian Network of Researchers

ABSTRACTHealth research, including drug safety research, is communicated, in part, by being cited; understanding these citations can help determine its reach and impact. We analyzed the uptake of a Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies study of the heart failure risk of incretin-based drugs using quantitative and qualitative bibliometric approaches. A Scopus® search (2016–2020) returned 127 citing articles, mostly single studies and review articles. Many were also high impact journals, with intended audiences of other researchers, policy makers, and practitioners. Using the Becker Model, 93% contributed to “advancing knowledge.” Research impact can be difficult to establish. We have demonstrated one comprehensive approach that can be further adapted and automated; researchers and funders need to determine the best indicators, tools, and frameworks to use that are feasible and context relevant.KEYWORDS: Bibliometricscitationsincretinspharmacoepidemiologyresearch impact AcknowledgmentsThe authors wish to acknowledge Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) interns, Cora-Lynn Munroe-Lynds and Ally Patton, for their assistance with data extraction; Natasha Rodney-Cail, for her assistance with manuscript preparation; and Dr. Melissa Rothfus, for her assistance with final manuscript review.Disclosure statementRLT, WA, KBF, ISS, and SAS have received salary support, in part, from CIHR for CNODES. KBF is supported by a senior salary support award from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - santé (Quebec Foundation for Research – Health) and a William Dawson Scholar award from McGill University. WA was employed by Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Montreal, Quebec, Canada at the time of this work; he is now employed by Complete HEOR Solutions, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.Supplementary materialSupplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/0194262X.2023.2242430Notes1. Pharmacoepidemiology is “the study of the use of and effects of drugs in large numbers of people;” it applies epidemiological methods to pharmacological questions (Strom Citation2019).2. CIHR and Health Canada have since transferred responsibility for the work of DSEN to the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH), which launched its Post-Market Drug Evaluation (PMDE) Program on September 1, 2022 (CADTH Citation2022).3. The incretin-based drugs studied in Filion et al. (Citation2016) were DPP-4 inhibitors (sitagliptin, vildagliptin, saxagliptin) and GLP-1 analogs (exenatide, liraglutide).4. Study data were collected and managed using REDCap electronic data capture tools hosted at Dalhousie University (https://projectredcap.org/resources/citations/) (Harris et al. Citation2009, Citation2019).5. List of citations available on Borealis (https://borealisdata.ca/).Additional informationFundingThe Canadian Network for Observational Drug Effect Studies (CNODES) is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) under Grant Number DSE-146021.