TITLE: Protocol: Resin-based adhesives, composites, and luting agents: A cross-sectional study of citations and altmetrics
AUTHORS: Fernanda   Lauer

[DESCRIPTION]
The aim of this cross-sectional, scientometric study is to investigate factors associated with journal citations and altmetrics of dental articles reporting original research on resin-based materials. 


[STEPS]
1. Study protocol

Version 1 – March 2022

Resin-based adhesives, composites, and luting agents: A cross-sectional study of citations and altmetrics 

Fernanda Lauer a, Rodrigo Rohenkohl Silva a, Rafael Sarkis-Onofre b, Clóvis Faggion Jr c, Rafael R. Moraes a

a Graduate Program in Dentistry, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil 
b Graduate Program in Dentistry, Faculdade Meridional, Passo Fundo, Brazil
c Department of Periodontology, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany

Corresponding author:
Prof. Rafael R. Moraes
Universidade Federal de Pelotas
Rua Gonçalves Chaves 457 sala 505
96015-560, Pelotas, RS, Brazil
Tel/Fax: +55 53 32602831 (rafael.moraes@ufpel.edu.br)
ORCID: 0000-0003-1358-5928

REGISTRATION

This study will be registered in Open Science Framework (www.osf.io). 


OBJECTIVE

Resin-based materials are widely used in dentistry for a multitude of purposes but the literature is lacking of scientometric analysis on the topic. The aim of this cross-sectional, scientometric study is to investigate factors associated with journal citations and altmetrics of dental articles reporting original research on resin-based materials. 
2. METHODS

Eligibility criteria

Studies reporting original research on resin-based dental materials will be included. A wide range of dental materials could be classified as being based on resin, thus in the scope of this study we will only consider the following types of resin-based materials: 1) adhesives, i.e., agents used to promote the bonding of resin-based materials to different surfaces; 2) restorative composites, which are materials with a polymer matrix highly filled by inorganic particles used for several purposes; and 3) luting agents, which also are composites but have a lower filler load and are used to provide the fixation between structures and surfaces. 

To be included, the article should investigate one of these three dental materials and the main study outcome should concern that specific material. For example, studies classified as belonging to the ‘adhesives’ category should have been designed to evaluate the effect, influence, impact, behavior, and/or performance of one or more dental bonding agents, although the adhesive could be associated with other materials, for instance. In case the study aimed to evaluate an accessory material, e.g. a light-curing unit, the article will be included provided that the main outcome or response-variable is related to one of the eligible types of materials. In case the study cannot be clearly designated as a research on adhesive, restorative composite, or luting agent, the study will be excluded. The following materials are not eligible: glass ionomer cements, varnishes, silanes, products based on poly(methyl methacrylate), polymer-containing ceramics, and any other material that does not contain resin. Laboratory, animal, observational or interventional clinical studies, case reports, case series and reviews will be included, but opinions, letters, and editorials will be excluded.

Only papers in the field of dentistry, written in English, and published in 2019 will be considered. This year was selected because it was the last year before influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and, since the data is planned to be extracted in mid-2022, this will give at least 2.5 years for citations since publication of the article (MARX et al. 2001; PATSOPOULOS et al. 2005). A single year was selected to avoid further differences in citation timeframe that could be present if different years were included. 

Search strategy

A structured search will be performed in the international scientific database Scopus (Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands). This database was selected because it is comprehensive in terms of the number of dental journals indexed as well as because of the quantity of information about citations and other metrics it can provide. The search strategy will be based on specific terms using the keywords shown in Table 1. The search in Scopus will be refined limiting the results to: year (2019), subject area (dentistry), document type (article), publication stage (final), source type (journal), and language (English).
3.  
     Table 1. Search strategy that will be used in Scopus        TITLE-ABS-KEY   (resin*) OR (resin-based) OR (resin AND matrix) OR (resin-based AND   composite) OR (composite*) OR (composite AND resin) OR (dental AND resin) OR   (self-curing AND dental AND resin) OR (polymers*) OR (bond*) OR (resin AND   bonded) OR (dental AND adhesives) OR (adhesion) OR (adhesives*) OR (adhesive   systems) OR (dentin-bonding AND agents) OR (dental AND bonding) OR (chemical   curing AND dental AND adhesives) OR (chemically-cured AND dental AND bonding)   OR (luting agents) OR (resin AND cements) OR (cements*) OR (dental   bonding  light-cured) OR (dental   bonding dual-cure) OR (dental bonding self-cured) OR (dual-curing AND resin   AND cements) OR (dual-curing AND dental AND resins) OR (self-cured AND dental   AND bonding) OR (dental AND cement AND curing) OR (dental AND cements) OR   (dental AND cements AND light-cured) AND (LIMIT-TO (SRCTYPE, “j”)) AND   (LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, “ar”)) AND (LIMIT-TO (PUBYEAR, 2019)) AND (LIMIT-TO   (LANGUAGE, “English”)) AND (LIMIT-TO (PUBSTAGE, “final”))   
 

Screening

The refined search results will be exported as a comma-separated values (CSV) file and imported into MS Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, USA). Two independent investigators (FL and RRS) will assess the articles for eligibility. The investigators will be previously trained using a random sample of 50 articles from the search. Training will be supervised by a third investigator (RRM). In case of disagreement, a consensus will be reached between the two independent investigators after discussion and, if needed, the opinion of the third investigator will be decisive. The screening process will be performed by the two independent reviewers. One by one, titles and abstracts will be assessed for eligibility. Full-texts will be consulted in case of doubt. Discrepancies in the screening of titles, abstracts, and full-texts will be resolved by discussion between the two independent reviewers. In case of disagreement, the opinion of a third reviewer will be decisive (RRM). 
4. Data collection

For each study included, independent and dependent variables will be collected as shown in Table 2.


 
     Table 2. Independent   and dependent variables that will be collected from each article and sources   of information        Variables      Type      Source        Independent   variables           Resin-based material type   (adhesive/composite/luting agent)      Categorical      Article           Journal      Categorical      Scopus           Journal Impact Factor (JIF)      Numerical      JCR/Web of Science           CiteScore      Numerical      Scopus           Publication access type (open   access/subscription)      Categorical      Scopus           Number of authors      Numerical      Article           Presence of international collaboration   (yes/no)      Categorical      Article           First author country      Categorical      Article           Corresponding author country      Categorical      Article           Conflict of interest (reported/not   reported/unclear)      Categorical      Article           Sponsorship   (none/non-profit/for-profit/mixed/unclear)      Categorical      Article        Dependent variables                         Article citations      Numerical      Scopus           Article citations      Numerical      Google Scholar           Altmetric Attention Score (AAS)      Numerical      Altmetric.com           Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI)      Numerical      Scopus   



The combinations between materials used in the different studies will be collected, i.e., how many times an adhesive was associated with a resin composite or with a luting agent, for instance. Number of citations in Scopus and Google Scholar, and AAS, will be considered as primary outcomes of the study because they provide measures of attention gained by the articles in different scenarios, generating a broader view of the impact of the article (Altmetric, 2021). The FWCI of each article will be treated as a secondary outcome. The FWCI is a field-weighted metric that uses the ratio of the total citations received by the denominator’s output, and the total citations that would be expected based on the average of the subject field (Elsevier, 2021). A FWCI=1 means that the article performed as expected for the global average, whereas more or less than 1 means more or less citations according to the global average.

Data will be collected and recorded in an Excel spreadsheet by one evaluator (FL) and checked by a second evaluator (RRS). After collection, data for categorical variables will be categorized by one evaluator (RRS) and checked by a second (FL). The JIF will be extracted from the latest Clarivates list available. CiteScore will be collected on a same day for all journals to avoid updates on the metric during data collection. International collaboration will be classified as present whenever two countries were present in the authors’ affiliations. If the information about who was the corresponding author is missing, last authors will be considered corresponding authors (ICMJE, 2022). The conflict of interest will be considered unclear when a decision between reported or not reported is not clear. Sponsorship classification will consider as a non-profit sponsor for government, university, hospital, research institute, and charitable foundations. Companies will be considered as for-profit sponsor. Mixed sponsorship should include both non- and for-profit sponsors, and unclear will be classified when we are not sure if the sponsor is a non- of for-profit organization (FAGGION et al. 2020). 
5. Data analysis

Data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics, estimating the absolute and relative frequencies of the variables of interest and their respective 95% confidence intervals. Separate analyses will be carried out for each of the four independent variables. Regression models will be used to assess differences in citations, AAS, or FWCI among the resin-based materials types. Multilevel models will be used to evaluate the influence of the independent variables on citation rates, AAS, and FWCI. All variables will be retained in the final models (if applicable), but only those with p-value < 0.05 will be considered statistically significant.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The authors declare no conflicts of interest associated with this manuscript.


FUNDING

This study will be financed in part by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Brazil (Finance Code 001 – institutional grant). FL and RRS will be receptors of scholarships from CAPES, Brazil.


REFERENCES

ALTMETRIC. Digital Science & Research Ltd, c2021. Support Home. Solutions. Available in: https://help.altmetric.com/support/solutions/articles/6000233311-how-is-the-altmetric-attention-score-calculated. Access at: January 3, 2022.

ELSEVIER. Scopus: access and use support center, c2021. Available in: < https://service.elsevier.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/14894/supporthub/scopus/~/what-is-field-weighted-citation-impact-%28fwci%29%3F/ >. Accessed in:14, December, 2021.

FAGGION CM Jr, PANDIS N, CARDOSO GC, RODOLFO B, MOREL LL, MORAES RR. Reporting of conflict of interest and sponsorship in dental journals. J Dent. 2020 Nov;102:103452. doi: 10.1016/j.jdent.2020.103452. Epub 2020 Aug 15. PMID: 32805358.

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE of MEDICAL JOURNAL EDITORS (ICMJE). Recommendations: Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals, c2022. Available in: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/ Access at: February first, 2022.

MARX, W., SCHIER, H., & WANITSCHEK, M. (2001). Citation analysis using online databases: feasibilities and shortcomings. Scientometrics,52, 59. doi:10.1023/A:1012798911792

PATSOPOULOS, NA; ANALATOS, AA; IOANNIDIS, JPA. Relative citation impact of various study designs in the health sciences. JAMA. 2005;293(19):2362-2366.