Henry (Hal) Duncan
BDS, FDS RCS, FFD RCSI, MClin Dent, MRD RCS (Endo), PhD
Endodontic research and the IEJ: trends, challenges and opportunities
Endodontology is defined as the prevention and treatment of apical periodontitis. As a result, research in the specialty should focus on a combination of novel, innovative, next-generation science that have the potential to improve future therapies, as well as robust, properly-designed clinical studies that will evaluate the success of current treatments. Critically, both should strive to improve therapies for dentists in practice as well as outcomes for patients. At the same time, the publishing world is shifting towards an open access, download driven, altmetric style model, which is at odds with the classic impact-factor based metrics. These shifts present challenges and opportunities for not only researchers, editors and hybrid journals like the IEJ, but also for Endodontics in general, particularly if our aim is to further develop the discipline, maintain quality and retain relevance to the largely clinical readership.
Aim: The aim of this lecture is to discuss current endodontic research and publishing trends, while considering future directions, opportunities and implications for the IEJ and the discipline.
Objectives:
To consider the current ‘hot’ topics in endodontic research and publishing
To understand the effects of open access, altmetrics and DORA on scientific publishing
To evaluate where research, the IEJ and Endodontics will go in the future
To reflect on the importance of guideline development and patient-orientated research on research funding and publication
To consider the challenges and opportunities that Endodontics faces in the next 20 years
To wonder does any of this matter to me as a dentist or endodontist in practice?
Biography
Dr Hal Duncan received his dental degree from the University of Glasgow and his 4-year endodontic speciality training in Guy’s Hospital, King’s College London. For ten years, he worked part-time in specialist referral endodontic practice. He completed his PhD in the University of Birmingham on the subject of ‘Epigenetic approaches to the role of Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors (HDACi) in promoting dentine-pulp reparative mechanisms’. As an Academic Professor and Consultant in Endodontics, he has led endodontic teaching, service delivery and research in Dublin Dental University Hospital (DDUH) for the last 13 years. He has published over 100 international peer-reviewed scientific articles, 40 research abstracts, 18 book chapters as well as editing 2 textbooks. He was the primary author of the recent European Society of Endodontology (ESE) position statement on ‘Management of deep caries and the exposed pulp’ and is the lead of the ongoing ‘ESE S3-level Guidelines for the Treatment of Endodontic Disease’. He is the current Editor-in-Chief of the International Endodontic Journal after being an Associate Editor for the International Endodontic Journal since 2014. Hal has completed three sponsored research fellowships in New York University/Rutgers University investigating the role of epigenetic-modifying agents on tooth development and regeneration as well as receiving multiple research grants as principal investigator. In DDUH, he currently maintains a research lab and is the principal supervisor of clinical and scientifically trained PhD students and postdoctoral researchers in basic and translational pulp biology and endodontics. Currently, he is the Director of Research in the DDUH, the Chair of Membership Committee of the ESE, a Member of the Executive Board of the ESE, the President Elect of the ESE, the President of the Irish Division of the IADR, the Vice-President of the Pulp Biology and Regeneration Group of the IADR and a Board Member of the Pan European Region of the IADR. He is a past president of the Irish Endodontic Society as well as an external examiner at home and abroad.