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Corvo AAuthorMatalonga, LAuthorHernández-Ferrer CAuthorLaurie, SAuthorGraessner, HAuthorBeltran, SAuthor

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August 31, 2020
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A guide to writing systematic reviews of rare disease treatments to generate FAIR-compliant datasets: building a Treatabolome

Publicated to:Orphanet Journal Of Rare Diseases. 15 (1): 206- - 2020-08-12 15(1), DOI: 10.1186/s13023-020-01493-7

Authors: Atalaia, A; Thompson, R; Corvo, A; Carmody, L; Piscia, D; Matalonga, L; Macaya, A; Lochmuller, A; Fontaine, B; Zurek, B; Hernandez-Ferrer, C; Rheinard, C; Gómez-Andrés, D; Desaphy, JF; Schon, K; Lohmann, K; Jennings, MJ; Synofzik, M; Riess, O; Ben Yaou, R; Evangelista, T; Ratnaike, T; Bros-Facer, V; Gumus, G; Horvath, R; Chinnery, P; Laurie, S; Graessner, H; Robinson, P; Lochmuller, H; Beltran, S; Bonne, G

Affiliations

Barcelona Inst Sci & Technol BIST, Ctr Genom Regulat CRG, CNAG CRG, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Cambridge Univ Hosp NHS Fdn Trust, Dept Paediat, Cambridge, England - Author
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - Author
Centro de Regulacion Genomica, Barcelona - Author
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa - Author
Childrens Hosp Eastern Ontario, Res Inst, Ottawa, ON, Canada - Author
EURORDIS Rare Dis Europe, Paris, France - Author
EURORDIS-Rare Diseases Europe - Author
GH Pitie Salpetriere Paris, Ctr Res Myol, Inst Myol, Sorbonne Univ,INSERM,UMRS 974, 47 Blvd Hop, F-75651 Paris 13, France - Author
GHU Pitie Salpetriere, Unite Morphol Neuromusculaire, Inst Myol, Paris, France - Author
Hertie-Institut für klinische Hirnforschung - Author
Hôpital Universitaire Pitié Salpêtrière - Author
Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron - Author
Jackson Lab Genom Med, Farmington, CT 06032 USA - Author
Jackson Laboratory - Author
MRC Mitochondrial Biol Unit, Cambridge Biomed Campus, Cambridge, England - Author
MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit - Author
Ottawa Hosp, Dept Med, Div Neurol, Ottawa, ON, Canada - Author
School of Clinical Medicine - Author
Sorbonne Univ, Ctr Reference Malad Neuromusculaires Nord Est, INSERM, AP HP, Paris, France - Author
Sorbonne Universite - Author
The Ottawa Hospital - Author
Univ Bari Aldo Moro, Sch Med, Dept Biomed Sci & Human Oncol, Bari, Italy - Author
Univ Cambridge, Dept Clin Neurosci, Cambridge, England - Author
Univ Cambridge, Dept Clin Neurosci, Sch Clin Med, Cambridge Biomed Campus, Cambridge, England - Author
Univ Freiburg, Med Ctr, Fac Med, Dept Neuropediat & Muscle Disorders, Freiburg, Germany - Author
Univ Lubeck, Inst Neurogenet, D-23538 Lubeck, Germany - Author
Univ Ottawa, Brain & Mind Res Inst, Ottawa, ON, Canada - Author
Univ Tubingen, German Ctr Neurodegenerat Dis DZNE, Tubingen, Germany - Author
Univ Tubingen, Hertie Inst Clin Brain Res, Dept Neurodegenerat Dis, Tubingen, Germany - Author
Univ Tubingen, Inst Med Genet & Appl Genom, Tubingen, Germany - Author
Universita degli Studi di Bari - Author
Universitat Freiburg im Breisgau - Author
Universität Tübingen - Author
Universitat zu Lubeck - Author
University of Cambridge - Author
University of Ottawa, Canada - Author
Vall dHebron Univ Hosp, Paediat Neurol, Barcelona 08035, Spain - Author
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Rare diseases are individually rare but globally affect around 6% of the population, and in over 70% of cases are genetically determined. Their rarity translates into a delayed diagnosis, with 25% of patients waiting 5 to 30 years for one. It is essential to raise awareness of patients and clinicians of existing gene and variant-specific therapeutics at the time of diagnosis to avoid that treatment delays add up to the diagnostic odyssey of rare diseases' patients and their families. AIMS: This paper aims to provide guidance and give detailed instructions on how to write homogeneous systematic reviews of rare diseases' treatments in a manner that allows the capture of the results in a computer-accessible form. The published results need to comply with the FAIR guiding principles for scientific data management and stewardship to facilitate the extraction of datasets that are easily transposable into machine-actionable information. The ultimate purpose is the creation of a database of rare disease treatments (Treatabolome) at gene and variant levels as part of the H2020 research project Solve-RD. RESULTS: Each systematic review follows a written protocol to address one or more rare diseases in which the authors are experts. The bibliographic search strategy requires detailed documentation to allow its replication. Data capture forms should be built to facilitate the filling of a data capture spreadsheet and to record the application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria to each search result. A PRISMA flowchart is required to provide an overview of the processes of search and selection of papers. A separate table condenses the data collected during the Systematic Review, appraised according to their level of evidence. CONCLUSIONS: This paper provides a template that includes the instructions for writing FAIR-compliant systematic reviews of rare diseases' treatments that enables the assembly of a Treatabolome database that complement existing diagnostic and management support tools with treatment awareness data.

Keywords

rare diseasessystematic literature reviewsData managementHumansRare diseasesResearch designSystematic literature reviewsSystematic reviews as topicTreatment knowledge-baseWriting

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Orphanet Journal Of Rare Diseases due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2020, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Medicine (Miscellaneous).

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.24. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 1.41 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 7.7 (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-16, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 25
  • Scopus: 26
  • Europe PMC: 20

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-16:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 52.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 44 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 10.6.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 15 (Altmetric).

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Canada; France; Germany; Italy; United Kingdom; United States of America.