What does this research mean for the field?

Publications supported by the Frontiers CTSI program demonstrate significant academic impact and high rates of cross-hub collaboration, which is associated with higher Relative Citation Ratios. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.SYNTHESIS. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to evaluate the impact and support areas of the CTSA program based on relevant publications.

May 9, 2026Open Access

241 Content and bibliometric publication analysis to assess academic impact of CTSA Programming

Key Points

The aim is to evaluate the impact and support areas of the CTSA program based on relevant publications.
Conducted content and bibliometric analysis on publications from the CTSA program.
Identified articles through Google Scholar, PubMed, and ERACommons, focusing on those published post-grant initiation (2011).
Employed Covidence for screening and coding, analyzing variables like collaboration and disease area.
Included 941 publications from 2011 to April 2024, with 40% authored by multiple CTSA hubs.
44% of publications were from TL1 & KL2 scholars; 56% from past pilot awardees, mainly in neurology.
Average NIH relative citation ratio (RCR) was 1.64 over 13 years, with higher RCRs linked to collaborations.

Abstract

Objectives/Goals: Relevant publications serve as a comprehensive longitudinal data source that reflects the priorities, partnerships, and training a CTSA program supports. A content analysis of the publications was conducted to identify the specific areas where our CTSA program has the most impact and provides the most support. Methods/Study Population: A content and bibliometric analysis was conducted for the Frontiers CTSI. Articles were identified by searching for all current and previous grant numbers in Google Scholar and PubMed and identifying relevant publications through ERACommons. We utilized Covidence to facilitate the screening and coding process. Articles were included if they were published after the grant initiation (2011), attributed support to the grant, and were peer reviewed. Articles were then double coded for variables such as member institutions, CTSA collaboration, awardee type, disease area, and study type, etc. Bibliometric outcomes were retrieved from NIH iCite and Web of Science. Descriptives, t-test, and linear models were used to assess associations. Results/Anticipated Results: A total of 941 publications from 2011 to April 2024 were included for analysis. When examining collaboration between Frontiers and other CTSA hubs, 40% of publications had authorship representing multiple hubs, with 95% of the CTSA hubs represented. Most publications were directly supported by Frontiers: 44% from TL1 & KL2 scholars and 56% from past pilot awardees. The primary disease area supported was neurology, with 60% of publications describing T2: clinical research studies. The main output of interest, the NIH’s relative citation ratio (RCR), has an average of 1.64 over 13 years. Publications with collaborations between Frontiers and another CTSA hub were associated with higher RCRs. Discussion/Significance of Impact: This analysis provides us with a snapshot of frontiers CTSI’s activities and impact while also highlighting areas where our support can be strengthened. Next, we plan to incorporate altmetric data to create a more holistic view of our CTSA’s impact and collaborations.

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