We are pleased to announce that the NIHR is, today, introducing a new, independent visual identity to reflect our growing maturity as an organisation, the breadth of our work across public health and the nation’s health and care system, and the research we now undertake to benefit international development.

Celebrate Peer Review week, 10-15 September 2018

Celebrate Open Access Week

NIHR-funded researchers have launched a four year study to evaluate the national rollout of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme.

Taking oral vitamin D supplements in addition to standard asthma medication could halve the risk of asthma attacks requiring hospital attendance

A national trial has revealed that giving oxygen to stroke victims makes no difference to their recovery or chances of survival.

Providing clean injecting equipment to people who inject drugs, along with opioid substitution therapy, could reduce transmission of Hepatitis C

A new NIHR-funded study will investigate whether spending time in green and blue spaces, such as parks and beaches, can have a positive effect on our long-term wellbeing and mental health.

A nationwide study is to determine if delivering bigger babies earlier will prevent serious complications during labour and beyond.

A form of psychotherapy can help patients overcome health anxiety and prevent them from making unnecessary trips to the GP.

HTA Publishes 1000th issue

Q&As from Journals Library webinars for authors

A new website for the NIHR Journals Library launched today. By incorporating project information into the existing wealth of open access data, the new site provides access to the full story of NIHR research projects.

We have produced a short video, which explains the concept behind the new Journals Library website.

Elderly patients with unstable ankle fractures could avoid surgery, according to research funded by the NIHR HTA Programme.

New research published in Health Technology Assessment has found that the Weight Action Programme (WAP) helps people to maintain weight loss after one year.

Research, published in Health Technology Assessment, has found that over-the-counter and prescription remedies can lead to some improvement in symptoms for women suffering from nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP).

New research, published in Health Technology Assessment has found that cognitive behavioural therapy can help reduce fear of falling in older people. Many older people, including those who have never fallen, find themselves fearful of falling.

Research published in The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology has found that the two drugs commonly used to treat steroid resistant ulcerative colitis are equally effective. Ulcerative colitis, inflammation of the colon and rectum, affects about 150,000 people in the UK.

Results of an NIHR HTA-funded study looking at the effectiveness of interventions for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder have just published in Lancet Psychiatry, with a full account of the research published in Health Technology Assessment. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder that causes people to react to obsessions or compulsions.

The NIHR Journals Library is one of a small number of publishers who have begun depositing clinical trial registration numbers related to their publications to Crossref. This data appears on the new CrossMark box, which has the linked clinical trials feature integrated.

A new report published in Health Services and Delivery Research today is the first to comprehensively address the challenges faced by healthcare providers in evaluating system-level innovations in healthcare services in an evolving landscape. If innovations can be better evaluated, then better, evidence-based decisions can be made by healthcare providers to improve the quality of health services in the UK.

Journals Library authors will now be required to sign-up and provide their ORCiD iD on submission of their report. Researchers can use this unique 16 digit identifier to correctly distinguish their publications and other research activities from others who may have the same, or a similar, name.

A project funded by the NIHR HS&DR Programme, looking at preparing parents for returning home with their new baby, has just published in Health Services and Delivery Research. Read the full report.

Computer assisted cognitive behavioural therapy is likely to be ineffective in the treatment of depression because of low patient adherence and engagement, suggests the largest study of its kind published in The BMJ. The full report has now published in Health Technology Assessment.

The NIHR Journals Library has continued to highlight the important evidence across NIHR research projects throughout 2015. So far this year the website had over 250,000 visits - an impressive increase of 25% compared to last year

Last month, we hosted a webinar to support researchers who are in the final stage of preparing their report for submission. The session aimed to help with navigating the editorial requirements and to provide useful guidance on the publication process.

New guidance for authors, detailing best practice in acquiring permissions to re-use copyrighted material, is now available. Our short video provides advice on obtaining permissions, timelines and different kinds of resources likely to be protected by law.

Research, funded by the NIHR HS&DR Programme, has found that when clinicians do research as well as delivering care, there is a likelihood that their organisation’s healthcare performance goes up. The study, published in BMJ Open (Boaz, et al, 2015), addressed the question does research engagement (by clinicians and organisations) improve healthcare performance? Led by Professor Stephen Hanney of Brunel University London, the research team carried out a three-stage review consisting of: a planning and mapping stage, a focused review, and a wider review of papers identified during the two earlier stages, focusing on how improvements in healthcare might result from the practice of research.

The next NIHR Researchfish submission period for the NIHR is 15 February – 23 March 2016. The information provided through Researchfish feeds into reports and decision-making processes such as the Government’s comprehensive spending review.

he NIHR supports this important initiative, which encourages the unrestricted sharing of research results with everyone. We recognise that the Open Access movement is gaining ever more momentum around the world and it is important that research funders and policy makers put their weight behind it.

Pressure ulcers are a widespread, cross speciality problem. They represent a major burden to patients and carers, having a detrimental effect on health-related quality of life (HRQL) and are costly to the NHS.

Research funded for the NHS has benefits for patients and improves service provision. This is the finding of a report looking at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

We’re pleased to announce that two additional selections of published NIHR research are now available on the NIHR Journals Library website. These new additions showcase final reports from the NIHR Horizon Scanning Research & Intelligence Centre (HSRIC) and NIHR schools, in addition to the existing Cochrane Programme Grants.

New research funded by the NIHR PHR Programme reviewing the measures in place to prevent domestic abuse for children and young adults, has published its findings in Public Health Research The ‘preventing domestic abuse for children and young people’ (PEACH) review evaluated current intervention measures in place for preventing and reducing harm inflicted on children and young people from domestic abuse. The study, undertaken by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in conjunction with the Personal Social Health and Economic Association (PSHE) and Women’s Aid, found that whilst there is a range of innovative work taking place, this tends to be isolated and more needs to be done to inform children about ways to prevent domestic abuse.

Health Services and Delivery Research is celebrating publication of its 100th issue. The organisation and delivery of health improvement in general practice and primary care: a scoping study (Peckham S, Falconer J, Gillam S, Hann A, Kendall S, Nanchahal K, et al) became the 100th issue published by the Health Services and Delivery Research journal.

Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may be successfully supported in classrooms through strategies that do not involve drugs, finds research published in Health Technology Assessment The study, led by the University of Exeter Medical School, reviewed existing evidence on simple classroom measures that could reduce the impact of ADHD, and help improve outcomes such as performance in standardised tests. Children with ADHD are typically restless, act without thinking and struggle to concentrate, which causes particular problems for them and for others in school.

Readers of NIHR Journals Library content can now be confident that they are using the most up-to date version of our reports as we have now implemented CrossMark across all of our journals. The identification service is provided by the DOI Registration Agency, CrossRef, and is used to highlight where the record of scholarly research has changed after publication.

Professor John Gladman and his research team set out to improve outcomes for frail older people being discharged rapidly from acute medical units, develop and test a specialist unit to care for people with mental health problems in a general hospital, and to find out more about the delivery of healthcare to care home residents. The findings, which have been published in the journal Programme Grants for Applied Research, suggest that the use of a geriatrician working across the hospital/community interface was ineffective and that a different approach was required.

Information about how to manage symptoms and access services by people with dementia and their carers, is often insufficient during the course of the disease, from diagnosis through to end of life care. Funded by an NIHR Programme Grant, Steve Iliffe, Professor of Primary Care for Older People at University College London, and his research team, developed the EVIDEM (Evidence-based Interventions in Dementia) programme to help change this situation by studying the diagnosis and management of dementia in primary care.

Schizophrenia represents a substantial cost to the NHS and society because it is common and begins in adolescence or early adulthood, and often causes lifelong impairment. The first three years are a “critical period” in which the course of the illness is determined.

Urinary incontinence following acute stroke is common, affecting between 40 percent and 60 percent of people in hospital. National audit data suggest incontinence is often poorly managed.

An NIHR-funded trial evaluating the effectiveness of a programme to help football fans lose weight, feel better and live a healthier lifestyle, has published its full findings in Public Health Research, today. Delivered via the Scottish Professional Football League Football (SPFL) Trust, the Football Fans in Training (FFIT) scheme is a free, 12-week programme which ran at 13 SPFL clubs at the time of the research.

The NIHR Health Technology Assessment is celebrating its 800th issue. This is a major milestone for a journal that has led the way in publishing full, accessible and public accounts of research funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme.

Today sees the launch of a new NIHR Journals Library collection in palliative and end of life care. Brought together for quick reference in addition to the usual search facility, the suite of end of life care projects includes published and future NIHR publications, as well as an archive of Service Delivery Organisation (SDO) Programme publications.

There have been important steps forward in the treatment of patients soon after a stroke. However, longer-term recovery can be challenging.

Many adults with type 1 diabetes struggle to manage their diabetes effectively because the limitations of current insulin therapy demand considerable input from patients themselves. To keep glucose at near-normal levels requires individuals to measure blood glucose frequently, and then calculate the correct insulin dose before every meal based on estimating carbohydrate intake.