Chris A Rees1, Heather Lukolyo2,3, Elizabeth M Keating2,4, Kirk A Dearden5, Samuel A Luboga6, Gordon E Schutze2, Peter N Kazembe2,7. 1. Division of Emergency Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. 2. Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA. 3. Baylor College of Medicine Children's Foundation Uganda, Kampala, Uganda. 4. Baylor College of Medicine Children's Foundation Lesotho, Maseru, Lesotho. 5. IMA World Health, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. 6. Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda. 7. Baylor College of Medicine Children's Foundation Malawi, Lilongwe, Malawi.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Interest in global health has increased greatly in the past two decades. Concomitantly, the number and complexity of research partnerships between high-income (HIC) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has grown. We aimed to determine whether there is authorship parity (equitable representation and author order) or parasitism (no authors from study countries) in paediatric research conducted in LMICs. METHODS: We reviewed all articles published from 2006 to 2015 in the four paediatric journals with the highest Eigenfactor scores. We limited our review to articles from LMICs and abstracted information on author affiliation and order, funding source and study design. We calculated Student's t-tests and chi-square using Fisher's exact test with Monte Carlo estimates. RESULTS: There were 24 169 articles published during the study period, and 1243 met inclusion criteria. Of those, 95.9% (n = 1,192) included at least one author affiliated with a LMIC. Among multicountry studies (n = 165), 40.4% did not include authors from every LMIC involved. Of the 9876 authors, most were affiliated with institutions from upper-middle-income countries (41.7%) and HICs (32.7%), with far fewer affiliated with lower middle-income (15.5%) and low-income countries (5.4%) (P < 0.001). In articles from low-income countries, first and last authors from HICs were more common than authors with low-income country affiliations (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Authorship parasitism was rare overall but common in multicountry studies. In studies conducted in low-income countries, HIC authors more commonly occupied first and last author positions than authors from the study countries. Where LMIC authors make substantial contributions, researchers should strive for authorship parity.
OBJECTIVES: Interest in global health has increased greatly in the past two decades. Concomitantly, the number and complexity of research partnerships between high-income (HIC) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has grown. We aimed to determine whether there is authorship parity (equitable representation and author order) or parasitism (no authors from study countries) in paediatric research conducted in LMICs. METHODS: We reviewed all articles published from 2006 to 2015 in the four paediatric journals with the highest Eigenfactor scores. We limited our review to articles from LMICs and abstracted information on author affiliation and order, funding source and study design. We calculated Student's t-tests and chi-square using Fisher's exact test with Monte Carlo estimates. RESULTS: There were 24 169 articles published during the study period, and 1243 met inclusion criteria. Of those, 95.9% (n = 1,192) included at least one author affiliated with a LMIC. Among multicountry studies (n = 165), 40.4% did not include authors from every LMIC involved. Of the 9876 authors, most were affiliated with institutions from upper-middle-income countries (41.7%) and HICs (32.7%), with far fewer affiliated with lower middle-income (15.5%) and low-income countries (5.4%) (P < 0.001). In articles from low-income countries, first and last authors from HICs were more common than authors with low-income country affiliations (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS:Authorship parasitism was rare overall but common in multicountry studies. In studies conducted in low-income countries, HIC authors more commonly occupied first and last author positions than authors from the study countries. Where LMIC authors make substantial contributions, researchers should strive for authorship parity.
Authors: Stephanie Chow Garbern; Gimbo Hyuha; Catalina González Marqués; Noor Baig; Jennifer L Chan; Sanjukta Dutta; Masuma A Gulamhussein; Gloria Paulina López Terán; Hussein Karim Manji; Winnie K Mdundo; Rachel T Moresky; Raya Yusuph Mussa; Erin E Noste; Mulinda Nyirenda; Maxwell Osei-Ampofo; Sindhya Rajeev; Hendry R Sawe; Alphonce Nsabi Simbila; M C Kaushila Thilakasiri; Nikkole Turgeon; Benjamin W Wachira; Rebecca S Yang; Amne Yussuf; Raina Zhang; Alishia Zyer; Chris A Rees Journal: BMJ Glob Health Date: 2022-06
Authors: B Morton; A Vercueil; R Masekela; E Heinz; L Reimer; S Saleh; C Kalinga; M Seekles; B Biccard; J Chakaya; S Abimbola; A Obasi; N Oriyo Journal: Anaesthesia Date: 2021-10-14 Impact factor: 12.893
Authors: Armen Yuri Gasparyan; Marlen Yessirkepov; Alexander A Voronov; Anna M Koroleva; George D Kitas Journal: J Korean Med Sci Date: 2018-08-16 Impact factor: 2.153
Authors: Chris A Rees; Elizabeth M Keating; Kirk A Dearden; Heather Haq; Jeff A Robison; Peter N Kazembe; Florence T Bourgeois; Michelle Niescierenko Journal: Am J Trop Med Hyg Date: 2020-03 Impact factor: 2.345
Authors: Bethany L Hedt-Gauthier; Herve Momo Jeufack; Nicholas H Neufeld; Atalay Alem; Sara Sauer; Jackline Odhiambo; Yap Boum; Miriam Shuchman; Jimmy Volmink Journal: BMJ Glob Health Date: 2019-10-18