Equity in global health research in the new millennium: trends in first-authorship for randomized controlled trials among low- and middle-income country researchers 1990-2013

Kelaher, Margaret; Ng, Lye; Knight, Kieran; Rahadi, Arie

doi:10.1093/ije/dyw313

Cited by 95 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Limited LIC/LMIC authorship has been well-documented in the literature [8], so our finding that nearly 30% of studies lacked any local author was not surprising. Similar trends have been detailed in the global surgical literature [13].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…Efforts to improve LIC/LMIC first-author and senior-author representation is important as a marker of scientific research equity. Perhaps most critical is ensuring that these efforts promote retention of local scientists, accept the realities of local contexts, and avoid "trickle down science" that disproportionately benefits non-LIC/LMIC investigators [8,19].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, conditions relevant to HICs and UMICs are overrepresented and those affecting LICs and LMICs are underrepresented in the medical literature [7]. Similarly, numerous studies have outlined the low rates of LIC and LMIC authorship on scientific publications, particularly in high-impact journals and even for studies performed in LIC and LMIC settings [8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geographic, Subject, and Authorship Trends among LMIC-based Scientific Publications in High-impact Global Health and General Medicine Journals: A 30-Month Bibliometric Analysis

Ghani¹,

Hurrell²,

Verceles³

et al. 2020

JEGH

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The globalization of medical research and global health's increasing popularity worldwide have resulted in greater geographic, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity of studies published in the scientific literature. Yet the geographic distribution, authorship representation, and subject trends among Low-/Low-Middle-Income Country (LIC/LMIC)-based scientific publications remain largely unknown. This analysis assesses these gaps in knowledge. We performed a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of all scientific articles published between January 2014 and June 2016 in the four most prominent general medicine and five most prominent general global health journals based on impact factor. The African region, containing 24% of the global LIC/LMIC population, accounted for 49.9% of all publications. Corresponding authors with either exclusive or joint appointment to a LIC/ LMIC institution were present in 26.2% of all included articles. Over one-quarter (28.8%) of all publications did not list a local author. Nearly two-thirds (62.1%) of articles published in global health journals and roughly half (52.4%) in general medicine journals involved infectious diseases. Non-HIV infectious disease studies were by far the most frequent subject areas across all journals. The trends identified in this study may help to inform the evolution and prioritization of future research efforts, thereby allowing global health to remain truly global.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geographic, Subject, and Authorship Trends among LMIC-based Scientific Publications in High-impact Global Health and General Medicine Journals: A 30-Month Bibliometric Analysis

Ghani¹,

Hurrell²,

Verceles³

et al. 2020

JEGH

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“…Moreover, the same situation has been observed in other biomedical research elds that are of special importance to the global South, like tropical diseases, infectious diseases, and pediatrics [22,25,26]. More speci cally, Kelaher et al [27] analyzed randomized controlled trials in the elds of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis that were undertaken in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 1990 to 2013, identifying three relevant features associated with research leadership. First, there was a much higher proportion of rst authors from LMICs in studies funded by LMICs (90%) than in studies funded by the USA (32%).…”

Section: High Degree Of International Collaboration Low Level Of mentioning

confidence: 87%

HIV/AIDS research in Africa and the Middle East: participation and equity in North-South collaborations and relationships.

González‐Alcaide

Menchi-Elanzi

Nacarapa³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background HIV/AIDS has attracted considerable research attention since the 1980s. In the current context of globalization and the predominance of cooperative work, it is crucial to analyze the participation of the countries and regions where the infection is most prevalent. This study assesses the participation of African countries in publications on the topic, as well as the degree of equity or influence existing in North-South relations.Methods We identified all articles and reviews of HIV/AIDS indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. We analyzed the scientific production, collaboration, and contributions from African and Middle Eastern countries to scientific activity in the region. The concept of leadership, measured through the participation as the first author of documents in collaboration was used to determine the equity in research produced through international collaboration. Results A total of 68,808 documents published from 2010 to 2017 were analyzed. Researchers from North America and Europe participated in 82.14% of the global scientific production on HIV/AIDS, compared to just 21.61% from Africa and the Middle East. Furthermore, the publications that did come out of these regions was concentrated in a small number of countries, led by South Africa (41% of the documents). Other features associated with HIV/AIDS publications from Africa include the importance of international collaboration from the USA, the UK, and other European countries (75%-93% of the documents) and the limited participation as first authors that is evident (30% to 36% of the documents). Finally, the publications to which African countries contributed had a notably different disciplinary orientation, with a predominance of research on public health, epidemiology, and drug therapy.Conclusions It is essential to foster more balance in research output, avoid the concentration of resources that reproduces the global North-South model on the African continent, and focus the research agenda on local priorities. To accomplish this, the global North should strengthen the transfer of research skills and seek equity in cooperative ties, favoring the empowerment of African countries. These efforts should be concentrated in countries with low scientific activity and high incidence and prevalence of the disease. It is also essential to foster intraregional collaborations between African countries.

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“…The growth in global health partnerships and funding has enabled research on a number of health priorities in LMICmaternal-child health [3], HIV/ AIDS, malaria [4] and health policy and systems research [5]. Despite this growth in research, authorship patterns (as a reflection of power relations in research collaborations) remain unequal, with high income country authors and institutions more often than not leading research publications, especially those reporting on low-income countries [6][7][8][9][10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research collaboration on community health worker programmes in low-income countries: an analysis of authorship teams and networks

Maleka

Currie

Schneider

2019

Global Health Action

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Background: Global health research partnerships, which promote the exchange of ideas, knowledge and expertise across countries, are considered key to addressing complex challenges facing health systems. Yet, many studies report inequalities in these partnerships, particularly in those between high and low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). Objective: This paper examines global research collaborations on community health worker (CHW) programmes, specifically analysing the structures of authorship teams and networks in publications reporting research on CHW programmes in low-income countries (LICs). Methods: A subset of 206 indexed journal articles reporting on CHW programmes in LICs was purposefully selected from a prior review of research authorship on CHW programmes in all LMICs over a five year period (2012-2016). Data on country and primary organisational affiliation and number of publications for all individual authors, programme area (e.g. maternal child health) and total citations per paper were extracted and coded in excel spreadsheets. Data were then exported and analysed in Stata/ICV.14 and Gephi. Results: The 206 papers were authored by 1045 authors from 299 institutions, based in 43 countries. Half (50.1%) the authors came from LIC-based institutions, 43.8% from high-income country (HIC) institutions, 2.9% from middle-income country (MIC) institutions and 3.2% had different first affiliations in different publications. Authors based in the USA (302) and UK (68) accounted for just over a third (35.4%) of all authors. Partnership patterns revealed a primary mode of North-South collaboration with authors from the US, and to a lesser extent the UK, playing central bridging roles between institutions. Strong network clusters of multipleaffiliated authors were evident in research on MCH and HIV/TB aspects of CHW programmes. Conclusion: Knowledge production on CHW programmes in LICs flows predominantly through a pool of connected HIC authors and North-South collaborations. There is a need for strategies harnessing more diverse, including South-South, forms of partnership.

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Equity in global health research in the new millennium: trends in first-authorship for randomized controlled trials among low- and middle-income country researchers 1990-2013

Cited by 95 publications

References 8 publications

Geographic, Subject, and Authorship Trends among LMIC-based Scientific Publications in High-impact Global Health and General Medicine Journals: A 30-Month Bibliometric Analysis

Geographic, Subject, and Authorship Trends among LMIC-based Scientific Publications in High-impact Global Health and General Medicine Journals: A 30-Month Bibliometric Analysis

HIV/AIDS research in Africa and the Middle East: participation and equity in North-South collaborations and relationships.

Research collaboration on community health worker programmes in low-income countries: an analysis of authorship teams and networks

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