Commentary title: COVID-19 research, Africa, and global health

Mbichila, Tinkhani; Kumwenda, Grace; Yola, Ntando; Karim, Quarraisha Abdool; Tchelidze, Tamar; Lau, Joseph; Buchholz, Stephanie; Lehnert, Regine; Molina, Jean‐Michel; Mayer, Kenneth H.; Miller, Veronica

doi:10.1016/j.jve.2021.100030

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Taken together, the research potential on COVID-19 in Africa by African researchers and laboratories/institution was very promising during the first year of the epidemic, although it needs to be strengthened. African researchers have done for the last 10 years extensive work in emerging (HIV/AIDS and Ebola) and endemic (malaria and tuberculosis) infectious diseases [4] and are now committing themselves against the COVID-19 outbreak.…”

Section: Emergence Of African Biomedical Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In March 2020, the Academy of Science of South Africa stressed the importance of research and development on COVID-19 in Africa as 'key to the response to outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging pathogens' [2]. In the past decade, African researchers have been increasingly conducting expertise and clinical trials along with African nations' engagement of their communities, to fight major epidemics including tuberculosis, malaria, HIV and Ebola infection [3,4]. The acquired experience of African research could be ready to be leveraged to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Review of authorship for COVID‐19 research conducted during the 2020 first‐wave epidemic in Africa reveals emergence of promising African biomedical research and persisting asymmetry of international collaborations

Tonen‐Wolyec

Lupaka

Batina‐Agasa

et al. 2022

Tropical Med Int Health

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Objectives:The contribution of African authors to the biomedical literature is small. We evaluated the African and non-African scientific production published in the international literature on the COVID-19 in Africa during the first year of the epidemic (2020).Methods: Papers on COVID-19 in Africa were extracted from the Medline (PubMed) database for bibliometric analysis including the proportions of three leading and last authors by study type, study country, authors' and laboratories/institutions' countries of affiliation and journal ranking.Results: A total of 160 articles fulfilling the inclusion criteria were analysed. The majority (91.3%) was produced by half (53.7%) of African countries, with important regional disparities, and generally without sources of funding mentioned. The majority (>85.0) of authors in lead positions (first, second, third and last authors) were Africans. Only a small number (8.7%) of studies on COVID-19 in Africa were carried out by laboratories not on the African continent (mainly Europe, USA and China) and generally received funding. The last and first authors were more frequently of non-African origin in journals with an Impact Factor ranking ≥1, and more frequently of African origin in journals with a lower ranking (< 1). The first and last non-African authors tended to report their studies in high ranking ≥1 journals. Conclusions:Our study demonstrates that the emergence of promising African research capable of publishing in indexed but low-impact factor medical journals and reveals the persistence of a North-South asymmetry in international cooperation in biomedical research with Africa.

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Section: Emergence Of African Biomedical Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%