As I reflect on an insanely busy 2016, it is clear that for hematologists, a phenomenon that can only be described as a sweeping movie of epic proportions has completely replaced what we used to call the month of December. From the blur of rounding on the inpatient wards, to Thanksgiving, to the dash to the annual American Society of Hematology meeting, straight into the rest of the holiday season, being back in my office is actually a welcome respite! So how does a hematologist catch one's breath and actually sit down to plan for 2017? How does one manage the constant flow of information which some describe as trying to take a small sip out of a gushing fire hydrant? Who knows the exact answer, and maybe there isn't one. Certainly, the approach will differ from person to person. But is there a way to start to try to organize one's digital approach to the research calendar?
I wanted to dedicate this column to writing about trends in clinical care and research in hematology. One of the biggest trends in our field is creating, managing, and leveraging an online presence. I am constantly being asked by colleagues to share my tips on managing and enhancing one's digital profile. I have developed a working knowledge of social media and other online tools and how it relates to a research career and I would like to share some of these ideas that I believe are essential for the busy hematology/oncology researcher.
Know Your H-Index
Log onto https://www.scopus.com. This handy source provides users with one of the most expansive citation-based database available online. On this site, one can look up a researcher (including one's own self, which I highly recommend) and view such items (in both graphical and text formats) as the overall publication output, number of citations, grouping of common co-authors, and breakdown of publications by journal. The h-index is a calculation involving the number of papers one has published, taking into account number of citations; intended to be a comparison among researchers in a similar field, and taking into account just simply the number of publications. You should know what yours has been computed as, and you will be astounded by how much information there is on your research portfolio. You will have the chance to possibly make novel connections in your work.
Personalize PubMed & Make It Work Best for You
Sure, you already know how to do PubMed searches. But are you getting the most out of PubMed? To quickly enhance the experience, sign up for My NCBI (login/password required) for the "new citation alert" feature. This will automatically notify you anytime a paper you are an author or co-author on gets ultimately published on PubMed. Also, you can sign up for email alerts containing key topic areas of high interest to you (e.g., you could receive notifications of any paper published with key word "myelofibrosis" or "acute lymphoblastic leukemia"). There is a nice YouTube based video introduction to some of these features at the NCBI Sign in Page (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/account/?back_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.go). Take a look at the constantly updated home page and spend some time familiarizing yourself with all of the new added features (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/) such as trending articles, featured comments at PubMed Commons, and other great items.
Google Scholar
Another site to consider is Google Scholar. Accessible at https://scholar.google.com/, this powerful site allows you to follow a more complete profile of your research work (including items not listed on PubMed, e.g., abstracts presented at meetings and book chapters). Additionally, once signed in via your gmail account, you can also sign up for citation alerts to follow authors who have referenced your work, which immediately lets you know when your work has been cited.
Start a Professional Twitter Account
One of the most active, emerging areas of research interaction is on Twitter (https://twitter.com/). This most commonly used micro-blogging site is known for its short, real time messages (140 characters, called "tweets"). Sign in, set up a 140-character bio, and begin by following groups and individuals in your research field; others will start to follow you. For reference, you can take a look at my bio and profile (@doctorpemm). Next, start by reading tweets from others, using it initially as a news aggregation modality, and once you become comfortable, consider sending out your own contributions, or tweets. There are disease-specific hashtag/Twitter communities that I have written about previously for a large number of common and rare cancer subtypes to both follow and contribute to. Use Twitter to follow major journals, hear from key opinion leaders, follow real-time commentary from those attending major medical conferences, or to educate by uploading the latest scientific paper published in your particular niche area. Remember, as with all media, this is an archived, public system, so beware of not only the promises, but also possible pitfalls.
Download Key Apps on Your Smartphone
Reading and digesting the infinite amount of information in our respective fields is just flat out impossible. Stop fooling yourself into thinking you are going to sit down for eight uninterrupted hours (or, as I call it, a "unicorn of time") and you will catch up on the articles you have neatly highlighted in your favorite journals. Instead, try to focus on using small pockets of time when available and to make sure you have all of the information out there in as user-friendly way to read as possible. One way to do this is to download apps onto your smartphone from journals (e.g., NEJM, Blood and Blood Advances, JCO), hematology/oncology news magazines, or major conferences for each year (e.g., AACR, ASH, ASCO).
So, there you have it. Some quick tips on how to get organized for 2017 to help you follow your own and others' research in your focus area. I hope you found some of these tips helpful. This is by no means a complete list, and of course these are just a few of the tools that have helped me out; there are many others out there. Feel free to email me (mailto:[email protected]) or find me on Twitter (@doctorpemm) to continue the conversation!
NAVEEN PEMMARAJU, MD, is Assistant Professor, Department of Leukemia, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.