ACCESS TO FREE FULL TEXT VIA THE PHYSIOTHERAPY EVIDENCE DATABASE (PEDRO): AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

A. Moseley1, D. Fernández Hernando2, B. Saragiotto3, S. Sharma4, E. Maharjan5, M. Elkins6
1The University of Sydney and Sydney Local Health District, Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, Sydney, Australia, 2Hospital Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Madrid, Spain, 3Universidade Cidade de São Paulo, Masters and Doctoral Programs in Physical Therapy, São Paulo, Brazil, 4Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal, 5Star Hospital, Lalitpur, Nepal, 6Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, Australia

Background: Over the last few decades physiotherapists have been encouraged to use an evidence-based practice approach. An essential element in using evidence to guide practice is acquiring full-text copies of research articles that answer a clinical question. Cost may be a barrier to acquiring full-text articles because many articles can only be accessed with a subscription or payment per article. This is particularly problematic for physiotherapists working in countries with low-income economies.

Purpose: The primary aim is to estimate the proportion of articles indexed in PEDro that can be accessed for free in full text. Secondary aims are to determine if free full text access via PEDro:
(1) has improved with time;
(2) is dependent on geographical location;
(3) is associated with article characteristics; and
(4) is comparable to free full text access via PubMed and a pdf locator web-site.

Methods: 200 articles published in 2000-2019 were randomly selected from PEDro. Data collectors in Australia, Brazil, Nepal and Spain attempted to access free full text using the links provided in the PEDro Detailed Search Results page for each article. The articles were divided into four 5-year epochs (2000-2004, 2005-2009, 2010-2014, 2015-2019) to evaluate the impact of time. Article characteristics (year and language of publication, area of practice, trial quality) were downloaded from PEDro and evaluated using logistic regression. Access to free full text for each article was also attempted via PubMed and a pdf locator web-site.

Results: Free full text could be accessed via PEDro from at least one country for 102 articles (51%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 44 to 58). While fluctuations were observed in the proportion of articles that could be accessed, there was no consistent trend over time and the confidence intervals for all epochs overlapped. Geographical location did not impact on access to free full text via PEDro. Logistic regression analyses revealed that the association between access to free full text and article characteristics was not much better than chance. Access to free full text via PEDro was similar to PubMed (PEDro had 2% better access (CI -1 to 5)) and the pdf locator web-site (PEDro had 5% less access (CI -12 to 2)).

Conclusion(s): We estimate that full text can be accessed for free from anywhere in the world for about half the articles indexed in PEDro. It may be worthwhile to compare institutional access between countries with low- and high-income economies and to investigate the association between free access to full text and journal characteristics.

Implications: Physiotherapy clinicians, educators, researchers and students can identify articles that answer their clinical questions about the effects of intervention and, for about half the articles, access free full text using PEDro.

Funding, acknowledgements: Australian Physiotherapy Association, Motor Accident Insurance Commission, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, American Physical Therapy Association and 39 World Physiotherapy MOs.

Keywords: Evidence-based practice, PEDro, access to articles

Topic: Research methodology, knowledge translation & implementation science

Did this work require ethics approval? No
Institution: N/A
Committee: N/A
Reason: Ethics approval was not required as this study evaluated an evidence resource.


All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.

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