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The rise in the measured prevalence of autism has been accompanied by much new research and research investment internationally. This study sought to establish whether the pattern of current UK autism research funding maps on to the concerns of the autism community. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with autistic adults, family members, practitioners and researchers to identify their priorities for research. We also captured the views of a large number of stakeholders via an online survey. There was a clear disparity between the United Kingdom's pattern of funding for autism research and the priorities articulated by the majority of participants. There was general consensus that future priorities for autism research should lie in those areas that make a difference to people's day-to-day lives. There needs to be greater involvement of the autism community both in priority setting and in research more broadly to ensure that resources reach where they are most needed and can make the most impact.

People with a learning disability face a number of challenges when seeking access to hospital care which are often distinct from those faced by the general population. Numerous statistics indicative of these challenges are represented in the academic literature. Previous research has suggested several reasons for the continued existence of these challenges, including a lack of expertise in the provision of health care to people with learning disabilities and negative attitudes towards this population held by healthcare professionals. As a means of elucidating the hospital experiences of people with learning disabilities on Merseyside, the researcher conducted 13 semi-structured interviews--an analysis of 12 of which are included in this article. Of these 12 interviews, two were conducted with an unaccompanied person with a learning disability, three were conducted with a person with a learning disability alongside their carer, and seven were conducted with the carer or carers of a person with a learning disability. The topics discussed in these semi-structured interviews were determined by the findings of a literature search and pilot interview. Emergent themes within the interview transcripts are discussed and recommendations made for healthcare professionals engaged in the hospital care of people with learning disabilities. It is concluded that people with learning disabilities on Merseyside continue to contest with the same difficulties during hospital experiences as have been identified previously by numerous national and international investigations. (Contains 1 table.)

Summary Analysis of interviews conducted by Mencap Liverpool suggest that hospital patients with learning disabilities on Merseyside continue to experience difficulties when accessing hospital care. This article presents a discussion [...]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of altmetric and webometric indicators to aid with funding agencies’ evaluations of their funding schemes. Design/methodology/approach – This paper analyses a range of altmetric and webometric indicators in terms of suitability for funding scheme evaluations, compares them to traditional indicators and reports some statistics derived from a pilot study with Wellcome Trust-associated publications. Findings – Some alternative indicators have advantages to usefully complement scientometric data by reflecting a different type of impact or through being available before citation data. Research limitations/implications – The empirical part of the results is based on a single case study and does not give statistical evidence for the added value of any of the indicators. Practical implications – A few selected alternative indicators can be used by funding agencies as part of their funding scheme evaluations if they are processed in ways that enable comparisons between data sets. Their evidence value is only weak, however. Originality/value – This is the first analysis of altmetrics or webometrics from a funding scheme evaluation perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]