The ability to manage, distil and disseminate the significant amount of information that is available from published literature is fast becoming a core and critical skill across all research domains, including that of forensic science. In this study, a simplified scientometric approach has been applied to available literature on gunshot residue (GSR) as a test evidence type aiming to evaluate publication trends and explore the interconnectivity between authors. A total of 731 publications were retrieved using the search engine ‘Scopus’ and come from 1589 known authors, of whom 401 contributed to more than one research output on this subject. Out of the total number of publications, only 35 (4.8%) were found to be Open Access (OA). The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for years 2006 and 2016 reveals a much higher growth in publications relating to GSR (8.0%) than the benchmark annual growth rate of 3.9%. The distribution of a broad spectrum of keywords generated from the publications confirms a historical trend, in particular regarding the use of analytical techniques, in the study of gunshot residue. The results inform how relevant information extracted from a bibliometric search can be used to explore, analyse and define new research areas.

The use of forensic evidence has become indispensable in many countries and jurisdictions around the world; however, the dissemination of research advancements does not necessarily directly or easily reach the forensic science community. Reports from the INTERPOL International Forensic Science Managers Symposium outline major areas that are of interest to forensic practitioners across the INTERPOL member countries. The information contained in the INTERPOL reports is extensive but can be challenging to process. The purpose of this research is to provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution of trends within the INTERPOL reports over an 18 year period. References relating to 10 evidence types retrieved from the 14th to 19th INTERPOL IFSMS reports (2004-2019 were processed and compared with data exports from the citation database Scopus covering the same evidence types. The results from this work are summarized by investigating the relationships between the 10 evidence types. To explore the outputs a user-friendly R-Shiny application was developed and is freely available at: https://uod.ac.uk/lrcfsinterpolreportsexplorer.

No abstract

Understanding the transfer and persistence of different types of trace evidence between different donor and receiving surfaces under specific conditions, circumstances and alleged competing defence and prosecution hypotheses is a significant need. Acquiring such a knowledge base enables hypothesis testing to be undertaken more readily and with greater confidence. A longstanding goal has been to develop a unified approach to transfer and persistence studies which are fit for purpose but also scalable. Here we propose a low cost, universal experimental protocol using a recognised and well researched proxy material for the development and aggregation of ground truth transfer and persistence data at scale. We also propose and provide the tools to enable the creation of an open source and open access data repository of experimental data to act as a resource for practitioners and researchers in addressing transfer and persistence questions.

This is the second paper on the development and implementation of a universal experimental protocol for transfer and persistence of trace evidence. Here, we present the results of five individual researchers who implemented the universal experimental protocol for the first time. Over 2500 images were collected, computationally analysed and statistically compared. The results were shown to be reliable and consistent under all conditions tested and were used to model the rate of loss of transferred particles over a 7-day timescale. The protocol was additionally extended to include a test of camera settings. The protocol was found to be useable and robust in this preliminary trial paving the way for it to be deployed more widely.