Barriers and incentives for conducting research amongst the ophthalmologists in Sub-Sahara Africa

Abstract

BackgroundResearch is a critical component amongst the strategies to improve health outcomes of any country. The role of research assumes greater importance in Africa as it carries a larger share of the global burden of diseases, blindness, and low vision. “Vision 2020- the Right to Sight” is a WHO-IAPB collaborated initiative aiming to eliminate preventable blindness by the year 2020. High quality research in eye care is imperative for the initiative to succeed, however, there is a dearth of research in eye care in sub-Saharan Africa in general and specifically in the Eastern, Central, and Southern African (ECSA) region. Identifying the barriers that hamper research in this region is an important step towards the elimination of preventable blindness.MethodsA structured questionnaire using the SurveyMonkey program was sent to ophthalmologists in the ECSA region and South Africa through their respective regional professional bodies.ResultsLack of funding, inadequate time and poor research knowledge were the main research barriers while the ability to improve eye health care through research was the main incentive for conducting research. The response rate for South Africa was low, restricting comparisons with other ECSA countries.ConclusionThe barriers mainly center on financial, human and administrative infrastructure and resources. In spite of the barriers, ophthalmologists in the study region are enthusiastic in research aiming to increase evidence—based knowledge to improve eye health care in line with the goals of “Vision 2020- the Right to Sight” initiative.

Has the Reporting Quality of Systematic Review Abstracts in Nursing Improved Since the Release of PRISMA for Abstracts? A Survey of High‐Profile Nursing Journals

“…The arising of clinical questions necessitates that healthcare workers find the best evidence in a short time and read literature to keep up to date with healthcare evidence (Nabelsi & Croteau, ). However, since access to many full‐text articles is limited, most of them obtain relevant information by reading abstracts to guide their practices or determine whether full texts are needed (Dhalla & Guirguis, ). In addition, for readers who do not understand the language in which the article is published, the translated abstract may be more meaningful.…”

Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis of African Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine Research Part I: Hierarchy of Evidence and Scholarly Productivity

“…Young African researchers often target foreign journals because most local journals have low impact factors and small readerships. [17][18][19][20] However, African researchers face numerous barriers to publish in international journals, especially if they have high impact factors, and some researchers eventually resort to publishing in predatory journals.…”

Systematic review and bibliometric analysis of African anesthesia and critical care medicine research part I: hierarchy of evidence and scholarly productivity

“…The lack of first author publications could equally be due to publications in journals that are not indexed in the major databases. Young African researchers often target foreign journals to increase their articles' visibility because most local journals have low impact factors and small readerships [19][20][21][22]. However, African researchers face numerous barriers to publish in international journals, especially if they have high impact factors, and some researchers eventually resort to publishing in predatory journals [22].…”