Abstract
Purpose: :
The purpose of this study was is to assess the efficacy of grants from the Glaucoma Research Society of Canada (GRSC) in achieving the GRSC's stated goals i.e. advancing the scientific community's knowledge of the causes, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of glaucoma. With the information gained from this evaluation, we hope to instill greater confidence amongst our donors by highlighting the work being conducted as a result of their support.
Methods: :
The main outcome measure used to evaluate success in this study was is the number of peer-reviewed journal publications that resulted from research funded by the GRSC. These publications were collected using two separate protocols. The primary protocol consisted of electronically searching for all articles from 1997 to 2007 that contained a stated acknowledgment to the GRSC, from a comprehensive list of ophthalmology related journals. The secondary protocol involved collecting information on all publications by each grant recipient that were listed on PubMed, and and comparing each publication to the subject matter of the grants that were awarded. The secondary protocol was designed to capture relevant publications that were missed by the primary protocol, either due to the absence of GRSC acknowledgment or because they were published in journals that were not in the list used by the primary protocol. A separate analysis was also performed to evaluate the number of publications in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS) as well as abstract presentations at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) during the same time period.
Results: :
A total of 74 grants valued at $680,900 were granted from 1997 to 2007, 48 of which (65%) resulted in at least one publication, for a total of 71 articles. This represents a cost of donor dollars per publication of $9,590. Thirty-five of the 68 articles (49%) were found after implementing the primary protocol. The remaining 36 (51%) were found after implementing the secondary protocol. A total of 19 grants (or 26% of grants) were published in IOVS. Twenty six grants (or 35% of grants) were presented at ARVO, four of which were presented twice.
Conclusions: :
Donations made to the GRSC have resulted in significant gains in the understanding of glaucoma within the scientific community, in the form of peer-reviewed publications as well as international conference presentations. Donors to the GRSC can be reassured that their donations are being well utilized.
Keywords: clinical research methodology