James Thomas

201.8k total citations · 14 hit papers
485 papers, 29.8k citations indexed

About

James Thomas is a scholar working on General Health Professions, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health and Sociology and Political Science. According to data from OpenAlex, James Thomas has authored 485 papers receiving a total of 29.8k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 115 papers in General Health Professions, 72 papers in Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health and 46 papers in Sociology and Political Science. Recurrent topics in James Thomas's work include Health Policy Implementation Science (60 papers), Meta-analysis and systematic reviews (40 papers) and Community Health and Development (28 papers). James Thomas is often cited by papers focused on Health Policy Implementation Science (60 papers), Meta-analysis and systematic reviews (40 papers) and Community Health and Development (28 papers). James Thomas collaborates with scholars based in United Kingdom, United States and Australia. James Thomas's co-authors include Angela Harden, Elaine Barnett-Page, Alison O’Mara-Eves, Josephine Kavanagh, Sandy Oliver, Ginny Brunton, Shantini Paranjothy, Sophia Ananiadou, Joanne E. McKenzie and Kathryn Oliver and has published in prestigious journals such as Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, The Lancet and Circulation.

In The Last Decade

James Thomas

455 papers receiving 28.7k citations

Hit Papers

Methods for the thematic synthesis of qualitative researc... 2008 2026 2014 2020 2008 2020 2009 2014 2017 1000 2.0k 3.0k 4.0k 5.0k
What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

  1. Methods for the thematic synthesis of qualitative research in systematic reviews
    2008 5.9k citations James Thomas, Angela Harden BMC Medical Research Methodology profile →
  2. Synthesis without meta-analysis (SWiM) in systematic reviews: reporting guideline
    2020 2.4k citations Amanda Sowden, Jamie Hartmann‐Boyce et al. profile →
  3. Methods for the synthesis of qualitative research: a critical review
    2009 1.5k citations James Thomas et al. BMC Medical Research Methodology profile →
  4. A systematic review of barriers to and facilitators of the use of evidence by policymakers
    2014 855 citations Kathryn Oliver, Theo Lorenc et al. profile →
  5. The need for a complex systems model of evidence for public health
    2017 711 citations James Thomas et al. profile →
  6. Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Children and Adolescents Compared With Adults
    2020 517 citations James Thomas et al. profile →
  7. Using text mining for study identification in systematic reviews: a systematic review of current approaches
    2015 411 citations Alison O’Mara-Eves, James Thomas et al. Systematic Reviews profile →
  8. Psychosocial interventions for supporting women to stop smoking in pregnancy
    2017 360 citations Alison O’Mara-Eves, James Thomas et al. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews profile →
  9. The effectiveness of community engagement in public health interventions for disadvantaged groups: a meta-analysis
    2015 338 citations Alison O’Mara-Eves, Ginny Brunton et al. BMC Public Health profile →
  10. Cochrane Qualitative and Implementation Methods Group guidance series—paper 3: methods for assessing methodological limitations, data extraction and synthesis, and confidence in synthesized qualitative findings
    2017 333 citations Angela Harden, James Thomas et al. profile →
  11. Living Systematic Reviews: An Emerging Opportunity to Narrow the Evidence-Practice Gap
    2014 332 citations James Thomas et al. profile →
  12. Searching for studies: a guide to information retrieval for Campbell systematic reviews
    2017 251 citations James Thomas et al. profile →
  13. School-based interventions to prevent anxiety and depression in children and young people: a systematic review and network meta-analysis
    2019 206 citations Deborah M Caldwell, Sarah R. Davies et al. The Lancet Psychiatry profile →
  14. Cyberbullying and Children and Young People's Mental Health: A Systematic Map of Systematic Reviews
    2020 170 citations Kelly Dickson, Claire Stansfield et al. profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name h Career Trend Papers Cites
James Thomas United Kingdom 80 7.6k 5.4k 3.9k 3.2k 2.9k 485 29.8k
Tyler J. VanderWeele United States 87 5.5k 0.7× 5.0k 0.9× 5.4k 1.4× 3.1k 1.0× 3.8k 1.3× 487 38.4k
Jay S. Kaufman United States 82 5.1k 0.7× 3.7k 0.7× 2.2k 0.6× 2.8k 0.9× 2.7k 0.9× 448 22.7k
Johan P. Mackenbach Netherlands 88 12.3k 1.6× 5.5k 1.0× 3.2k 0.8× 4.0k 1.3× 2.3k 0.8× 544 31.0k
Zachary Munn Australia 47 6.2k 0.8× 4.5k 0.8× 3.5k 0.9× 2.2k 0.7× 2.6k 0.9× 228 27.6k
Ian R. White United Kingdom 82 5.7k 0.7× 5.9k 1.1× 4.2k 1.1× 3.7k 1.2× 2.4k 0.8× 445 43.5k
Andrew Booth United Kingdom 73 10.3k 1.4× 5.4k 1.0× 3.3k 0.9× 2.1k 0.7× 3.4k 1.1× 453 30.7k
Mary Dixon‐Woods United Kingdom 60 8.8k 1.1× 4.8k 0.9× 2.4k 0.6× 2.0k 0.6× 2.2k 0.7× 214 22.0k
Russell Viner United Kingdom 72 4.7k 0.6× 5.1k 0.9× 6.4k 1.6× 3.4k 1.1× 2.4k 0.8× 397 22.4k
Theresa M. Marteau United Kingdom 78 4.7k 0.6× 6.9k 1.3× 2.6k 0.7× 3.8k 1.2× 3.0k 1.0× 502 26.3k
Stef van Buuren Netherlands 54 2.6k 0.3× 4.5k 0.8× 3.4k 0.9× 3.5k 1.1× 2.0k 0.7× 209 30.1k

Countries citing papers authored by James Thomas

Since Specialization
Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of James Thomas's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by James Thomas with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites James Thomas more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by James Thomas

Since Specialization
Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by James Thomas. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by James Thomas. The network helps show where James Thomas may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of James Thomas

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of James Thomas. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of James Thomas based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with James Thomas. James Thomas is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

20 of 20 papers shown
1.
Thomas, James, et al.. (2025). ContReviews: A content-based recommendation system for updating Living Evidences in health care. Knowledge-Based Systems. 311. 112981–112981.
2.
Theodoulou, Annika, Thomas Fanshawe, Eleanor L.S. Leavens, et al.. (2025). Differences in the effectiveness of individual-level smoking cessation interventions by socioeconomic status. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2025(1). CD015120–CD015120. 4 indexed citations
3.
Webb, Alastair J.S., Jacqueline Birks, Amy Lawson, et al.. (2024). Cerebrovascular Effects of Sildenafil in Small Vessel Disease: The OxHARP Trial. Circulation Research. 135(2). 320–331. 9 indexed citations
4.
Kneale, Dylan, et al.. (2024). The implementation of embedded researchers in policy, public services, and commercial settings: a systematic evidence and gap map. SHILAP Revista de lepidopterología. 5(1). 41–41. 5 indexed citations
5.
Hong, Quan Nha, Mukdarut Bangpan, Claire Stansfield, et al.. (2022). Using systems perspectives in evidence synthesis: A methodological mapping review. Research Synthesis Methods. 13(6). 667–680. 8 indexed citations
6.
Marshall, Iain, Veline L’Esperance, James Thomas, et al.. (2021). State of the evidence: a survey of global disparities in clinical trials. BMJ Global Health. 6(1). e004145–e004145. 13 indexed citations
7.
Marshall, Iain, Joël Kuiper, Anna H Noel-Storr, et al.. (2020). Trialstreamer: A living, automatically updated database of clinical trial reports. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 27(12). 1903–1912. 43 indexed citations
8.
Kneale, Dylan, Josie Henley, James Thomas, & Robert M. French. (2019). Inequalities in older LGBT people's health and care needs in the United Kingdom: a systematic scoping review. Ageing and Society. 41(3). 493–515. 47 indexed citations
9.
Caldwell, Deborah M, Sarah R. Davies, Sarah Hetrick, et al.. (2019). School-based interventions to prevent anxiety and depression in children and young people: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry. 6(12). 1011–1020. 206 indexed citations breakdown →
10.
Lorenc, Theo, et al.. (2019). What helps to support people affected by Adverse Childhood Experiences? A review of evidence. ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam). 11 indexed citations
11.
Katzenbach, Jon R., et al.. (2019). The Critical Few : Energize Your Company's Culture by Choosing What Really Matters Ed. 1. 1 indexed citations
12.
Richardson, M, et al.. (2018). Self-care for minor ailments: systematic reviews of qualitative and quantitative research. UCL Discovery (University College London). 3 indexed citations
13.
Brunton, Ginny, James Thomas, Alison O’Mara-Eves, et al.. (2017). Narratives of community engagement: a systematic review-derived conceptual framework for public health interventions. BMC Public Health. 17(1). 944–944. 126 indexed citations
14.
Woodman, Jenny, James Thomas, & Kelly Dickson. (2012). How explicable are differences between reviews that appear to address a similar research question? A review of reviews of physical activity interventions. Systematic Reviews. 1(1). 37–37. 9 indexed citations
15.
Caird, Jenny, Josephine Kavanagh, Kathryn Oliver, et al.. (2011). Childhood obesity and educational attainment : A systematic review. IOE EPrints. 31 indexed citations
16.
Chamberlain, Bruce, Jaron L. Winston, James Thomas, et al.. (2009). Methylnaltrexone Treatment of Opioid-Induced Constipation in Patients with Advanced Illness. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 38(5). 683–690. 61 indexed citations
17.
Thomas, James & Angela Harden. (2008). Methods for the thematic synthesis of qualitative research in systematic reviews. BMC Medical Research Methodology. 8(1). 45–45. 5933 indexed citations breakdown →
18.
Thomas, James, et al.. (2007). New sudden fiction : short-short stories from America and beyond. W.W. Norton eBooks. 7 indexed citations
19.
20.
Jennings, Bruce, Anna C. Mastroianni, Lisa S. Parker, et al.. (2003). Ethics and Public Health : Model Curriculum. DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library). 13(1). 25 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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