News from “Quality of Life Research”

Jan R. Boehnke, PhD, and Richard L. Skolasky​, ScD
Quality of Life Research Co-Editors-in-Chief

The Co-Editors-in-Chief of Quality of Life Research (QLR) would like the opportunity to thank ISOQOL and its members for their support in 2021. We received 1,938 submissions and accepted 308 articles. The journal’s editorial board managed high workloads and helped us identify relevant content for the community of (health related) quality of life researchers. And last but not least, 862 reviewers contributed at least one review, supporting the high quality of our content.

In addition to a ‘thank you’ message, we would like to highlight excellent content of the journal, identified by several indicators. Firstly, QLR’s article of the year award which is based on nomination from the Associate Editors and their vote on the quality of the papers after qualitative review:

• WINNER: Terwee, C.B., Peipert, J.D., Chapman, R., Lai, J.-S., Terluin, B., Cella, D., Griffith, P., & Mokkink, L.B. (2021). Minimal important change (MIC): a conceptual clarification and systematic review of MIC estimates of PROMIS measures. Quality of Life Research, 30, 2729–2754
• Gagnier, J.J., Lai, J., Mokkink, L.B., & Terwee, C.B. (2021). COSMIN reporting guideline for studies on measurement properties of patient-reported outcome measures. Quality of Life Research, 30, 2197–2218.
• Stover, A.M., Haverman, L., van Oers, H.A., Greenhalgh, J., Potter, C.M., & the ISOQOL PROMs/PREMs in Clinical Practice Implementation Science Work Group (2021). Using an implementation science approach to implement and evaluate patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) initiatives in routine care settings. Quality of Life Research, 30, 3015–3033.

The three most-cited papers in 2021 of the publication years 2019 and 2020 were:

• Haraldstad, K., Wahl, A., Andenæs, R., Andersen, J. R., Andersen, M. H., Beisland, E., Borge, C. R., Engebretsen, E., Eisemann, M., Halvorsrud, L., Hanssen, T. A., Haugstvedt, A., Haugland, T., Johansen, V. A., Larsen, M. H., Løvereide, L., Løyland, B., Kvarme, L. G., Moons, P., Norekvål, T. M., … LIVSFORSK network (2019). A systematic review of quality of life research in medicine and health sciences. Quality of Life Research, 28, 2641–2650.
• Crocker, T.F., Brown, L., Clegg, A. et al. (2019). Quality of life is substantially worse for community-dwelling older people living with frailty: systematic review and meta-analysis. Quality of Life Research, 28, 2041–2056.
• Qin, S., Nelson, L., McLeod, L. et al. (2019). Assessing test–retest reliability of patient-reported outcome measures using intraclass correlation coefficients: recommendations for selecting and documenting the analytical formula. Quality of Life Research, 28, 1029–1033.

Moving away from academic use, the three most downloaded papers in 2021 published in 2019-2021:​

• Haraldstad, K., Wahl, A., Andenæs, R., Andersen, J. R., Andersen, M. H., Beisland, E., Borge, C. R., Engebretsen, E., Eisemann, M., Halvorsrud, L., Hanssen, T. A., Haugstvedt, A., Haugland, T., Johansen, V. A., Larsen, M. H., Løvereide, L., Løyland, B., Kvarme, L. G., Moons, P., Norekvål, T. M., … LIVSFORSK network (2019). A systematic review of quality of life research in medicine and health sciences. Quality of Life Research, 28, 2641–2650.
• Ferreira, L.N., Pereira, L.N., da Fé Brás, M. et al. (2021). Quality of life under the COVID-19 quarantine. Quality of Life Research, 30, 1389–1405.
• Luijten, M.A.J., van Muilekom, M.M., Teela, L. et al. (2021). The impact of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic on mental and social health of children and adolescents. Quality of Life Research, 30, 2795–2804.

The three most downloaded papers from the entire QLR catalogue based on article requests in 2021 were:

• Haraldstad, K., Wahl, A., Andenæs, R., Andersen, J. R., Andersen, M. H., Beisland, E., Borge, C. R., Engebretsen, E., Eisemann, M., Halvorsrud, L., Hanssen, T. A., Haugstvedt, A., Haugland, T., Johansen, V. A., Larsen, M. H., Løvereide, L., Løyland, B., Kvarme, L. G., Moons, P., Norekvål, T. M., … LIVSFORSK network (2019). A systematic review of quality of life research in medicine and health sciences. Quality of Life Research, 28, 2641–2650.
• Herdman, M., Gudex, C., Lloyd, A. et al. (2011). Development and preliminary testing of the new five-level version of EQ-5D (EQ-5D-5L). Quality of Life Research, 20, 1727–1736 (2011).
• Ferreira, L.N., Pereira, L.N., da Fé Brás, M. et al. (2021). Quality of life under the COVID-19 quarantine. Quality of Life Research, 30, 1389–1405.

And finally, the use of research and articles goes beyond academic citations or downloads of the papers. Articles are used in news outlets, social media, and a wide range of other communication channels. The Altmetric score is one way of summarising the use of research published in QLR across these outlets. Below are the three publications with the highest Altmetric score in the 2021 (mentions on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Reddit, Blogs, news outlets, Faculty of 1000 reviews):

• Ainsworth, T. A., & Spiegel, J. H. (2010). Quality of life of individuals with and without facial feminization surgery or gender reassignment surgery. Quality of Life Research, 19, 1019–1024.
• Aucott, J. N., Rebman, A. W., Crowder, L. A., & Kortte, K. B. (2013). Post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome symptomatology and the impact on life functioning: is there something here? Quality of Life Research, 22, 75–84.
• Bunzel, B., Schmidl-Mohl, B., Grundböck, A. et al. (1992). Does changing the heart mean changing personality? A retrospective inquiry on 47 heart transplant patients. Quality of Life Research, 1, 251–256.

This newsletter editorial represents the views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ISOQOL. 

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