Copyright © 2020 pubrica. All rights reserved 1

Advancement in Blockchain Technology for Data Sharing in Biomedical

Research – The Key Factors in Writing a Literature Review

Dr. Nancy Agens, Head,

Technical Operations, Pubrica

sales@pubrica.com

I. BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

Blockchain is the system of recording

information in such a way that makes it

impossible or difficult to either change, hack

or cheat the system. It is a structure which

stores transactional records of the public in

various databases. The transitional records are

known as “block”, while the databases are

known as “chain”. This system involves a

network that is connected through peer to peer

nodes. Within these nodes, the blockchains are

stored. In other words, the nodes are actually

computers within a system where the data is

being stored. Each node saves a copy the

transactions.

How datablocks form a blockchain can be

illustrated with the image given:

Fig 1. Blockchain Technology

Healthcare workers and scientists in the

biomedical field have been using blockchain

technology for data sharing. The domains in

healthcare system who use this technology

include drug development, consumer health,

medical research, supply chain management,

data security, etc.

In healthcare, blockchain technology allows

accession rules for a particular set of medical

data. Researchers can access parts of data for a

fixed time interval. Patients can also access the

database of hospitals for an automated

collection of medical data. Even in the field of

literature research, blockchain technology is

applicable in a similar manner. Researchers

can have access to a centralized database

containing published research data, but for a

limited period of time or for specific research

articles.

II. EVIDENCE BASED CLINICAL

LITERATURE REVIEW SERVICES

A clinical literature review can be described as

an informative and critically written document

on a chosen topic. There are three categories

of evidence based Medical Literature Review

Writing Services, namely initial consultation,

search services and post search services.

Initial consultation involves providing

guidance, checking the type of document,

assist in developing protocols for the

systematic review and advicing the use of a

software.

Search services include conducting researches

of PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane

databases, exporting the results of database

search to a citation management tool and

maintaining copies of documentations.

Post search services include making a draft of

the methods section within literature search,

guiding on screening of citations and assisting

in editing and submission of publication.

Copyright © 2020 pubrica. All rights reserved 2

III. PLAGIARISM AND ITS CORRECTION

Plagiarism may be defined as the practice of

copying someone else’s ideas or work and

exhibiting them as one’s own. It is essential

that any systematic review is absolutely free of

plagiarism. Blockchain technology has an

important role to play in checking plagiarism

as well. The technology follows certain

principles which are helpful to prevent a

researcher from copying other’s work. The

table below gives those details.

Table 1. Blockchain Principle

The reviewer and the researcher can be a part

of the same blockchain. In this way, the

reviewer will be able to keep a tab on the

researcher’s access to different literatures.

This will give the reviewer an idea which

articles the researcher is accessing . A

reviewer runs a paper through a plagiarism

detector when discrepancies in few factors are

found. These include:

Style/Voice: Reviewers are familiar with

different styles and formats of writing. If

the reworked literature has a completely

different style of writing not present in the

previous works, then probably the student

has copied someone else’s work.

Inconsistency: This includes changes in

the type of font, font size and formatting of

text that indicate copying and pasting of

information from some other literature

work. In case the doubtful passages do not

have quotations or are without any

citations, then it is obvious that the

literature is plagiarized.

Old References: In case very old and

outdated references are used by a

researcher then it is suggestive to the

reviewer that the researcher is trying to

recycle some other researcher’s work.

IV. APPLICATIONS OF BLOCKCHAIN

TECHNOLOGY IN HEALTHCARE AND

BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES

Blockchain technology has the potential for

maintaining a secured sharing of patient

records throughout his/her lifetime. There are

three key elements that need to be considered

while developing a blockchain for biomedical

field and they are scalability, security of data

access and maintenance of data privacy.

The table given below shows in which all

ways blockchain technology is beneficial for

the healthcare system.

Copyright © 2020 pubrica. All rights reserved 3

Table 2. Benefits of Blockchain Technology

In a systematic review on blockchain

technology conducted by C. Agbo et.al. in

2020, several benefits of blockchain to

healthcare applications have been cited. These

are discussed:

Blockchain can act as a decentralized

health data management backbone from

wherein all stakeholders can have a

controlled access to the same health

records.

Data once saved to the blockchain, cannot

be corrupted, altered or retrieved. The data

are encrypted, time-stamped and appended

following a chronology. This helps in an

improved data security and protection of

the privacy and identity of the patient.

Blockchain helps the patients to own a

data and gives the assurance that their

health records are not misused by others.

The blockchain system is robust and

resilient against loss of data, corruption of

data and security attacks on availability of

data.

Blockchain has an open and transparent

nature. This creates trust among healthcare

professionals.

Blockchain facilitates verifiability of data

in areas such as pharmaceutical supply

chain management and insurance claim

processing.

REFERENCES

1. [https://www.euromoney.com/learning/blockchain-

explained/what-is-blockchain]

2. [https://www.simplilearn.com/what-is-blockchain-

technology-and-how-does-it-work-article]

3. https://www.nihlibrary.nih.gov/services/systematic-

review-service

4. https://www.easybib.com/grammar-and-plagiarism/

5. Justinia T. Blockchain Technologies: Opportunities for

Solving Real-World Problems in Healthcare and

Biomedical Sciences. Acta Inform Med. 2019

Dec;27(4):284-291. doi: 10.5455/aim.2019.27.284-291.

PMID: 32055097; PMCID: PMC7004292.

6. Yoon HJ. Blockchain Technology and Healthcare.

Healthc Inform Res. 2019 Apr;25(2):59-60. doi:

10.4258/hir.2019.25.2.59. Epub 2019 Apr 30. PMID:

31131139; PMCID: PMC6517629.

7. Agbo, Cc & Mahmoud, Qusay & Eklund, J.. (2019).

Blockchain Technology in Healthcare: A Systematic

Review. Healthcare. 7. 56. 10.3390/healthcare7020056.