A systematic review of medical and clinical research landscapes and quality in Malaysia and Indonesia [REALQUAMI]: the review protocol

Background: Research landscapes and quality may change in many ways. Much research waste has been increasingly reported. Efforts to improve research performance will need good data on the profiles and performance of past research. Purpose: To describe the characteristics and quality of clinical and biomedical research in Malaysia and Indonesia. Methods: A search will be conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL and PsycINFO to identify for published clinical and biomedical research from 1962 to 2017 from Malaysia and/or Indonesia. Additional search will also be conducted in MyMedR (for Malaysian team only). Studies found will be independently screened by a team of reviewers, relevant information will be extracted and quality of articles will be assessed. As part of quality control, another reviewer will independently assess 10-20% of the articles extracted. In Phase 1, the profiles of the published research will be reported descriptively. In Phase 2, a research quality screening tool will be validated to assess research quality based on three major domains of relevance, credibility of the methods and usefulness of the results. Associations between the research characteristics and quality will be analysed. The independent effect of each of the determinant will be quantified in multivariable regression analysis. Longitudinal trends of the research profiles, health conditions in different settings will be explored. Depending on the availability of resources, this review project may proceed according to the different clinical and biomedical disciplines in sequence. Discussion: Results of this study will serve as the 9baseline9 data for future evaluation and within country and between countries comparison. This review may also provide informative results to stakeholders of the evolution of research conduct and performance from the past till now. The longitudinal and prospective trends of the research profiles and quality could provide suggestions on improvement initiatives. Additionally, health conditions or areas in different settings, and whether they are over- or under-studied may help future prioritization of research initiatives and resources.