Department of Communication, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain.
Blanquerna School of Health Sciences, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spain.
PLoS One. 2021 Apr 9;16(4):e0249835. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249835. eCollection 2021.
The microbiome is a matter of interest for science, consumers and business. Our objective is to quantify that interest in academic journals and newspapers, both quantitatively and by study design. We calculated the number of articles on the microbiome from the total number of biomedicine articles featured in both PubMed and Spanish science news agency SINC, from 2008 to 2018. We used the Factiva database to identify news stories on microbiome papers in three general newspapers (The New York Times, The Times and El País) and three business newspapers (The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and Expansión), from 2007 to 2019. Then, we compared news stories with microbiome papers in PubMed, while also analyzing the frequencies of five study design types, both in the newspapers and in the papers themselves. Microbiome papers represented 0.8% of biomedicine papers in PubMed from 2008 to 2018 (increasing from 0.4% to 1.4%), while microbiome news published by SINC represented 1.6% of total biomedical news stories during the same period (increasing from 0.2% to 2.2%). The number of news stories on microbiome papers correlated with the number of microbiome papers (0.91, p < 0.001) featured in general newspapers, but not in business ones. News stories on microbiome papers represented 78.9% and 42.7% of all microbiome articles in general and business newspapers, respectively. Both media outlet types tended to over-report observational studies in humans while under-reporting environmental studies, while the representation of systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials, randomized controlled trials and animal/laboratory studies was similar when comparing newspapers and PubMed. The microbiome is receiving increasing attention in academic journals and newspapers. News stories on the microbiome in general and business newspapers are mostly based on research findings and are more interested in observational studies in humans and less in environmental studies compared to PubMed.
微生物组是科学、消费者和企业关注的问题。我们的目标是定量地和通过研究设计来衡量学术期刊和报纸对微生物组的兴趣。我们从 2008 年到 2018 年，计算了在 PubMed 和西班牙科学新闻社 SINC 中发表的生物医学文章中有关微生物组的文章数量。我们使用 Factiva 数据库，从 2007 年到 2019 年，在三份综合报纸（《纽约时报》、《泰晤士报》和《国家报》）和三份商业报纸（《华尔街日报》、《金融时报》和《拓展报》）中识别有关微生物组论文的新闻报道。然后，我们将新闻报道与 PubMed 中的微生物组论文进行了比较，同时还分析了报纸和论文本身中五种研究设计类型的频率。从 2008 年到 2018 年，微生物组论文在 PubMed 中的生物医学论文中占 0.8%（从 0.4%增加到 1.4%），而同期 SINC 发表的微生物组新闻报道占同期生物医学新闻报道的 1.6%（从 0.2%增加到 2.2%）。一般报纸上发表的微生物组论文的新闻报道数量与微生物组论文数量相关（0.91，p<0.001），但在商业报纸上则不相关。一般报纸上发表的微生物组论文的新闻报道分别占一般报纸和商业报纸上所有微生物组文章的 78.9%和 42.7%。这两种媒体都倾向于过度报道人类的观察性研究，而对环境研究的报道则不足，而当比较报纸和 PubMed 时，系统评价随机对照试验、随机对照试验和动物/实验室研究的代表性相似。微生物组在学术期刊和报纸上受到越来越多的关注。一般和商业报纸上有关微生物组的新闻报道主要基于研究结果，与 PubMed 相比，对人类观察性研究更感兴趣，对环境研究的兴趣较小。
