Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31750000›Full record

SynthesisBMJ global health2019

Stuck in the middle: a systematic review of authorship in collaborative health research in Africa, 2014-2016.

Bethany L Hedt-Gauthier, Herve Momo Jeufack, Nicholas H Neufeld, Atalay Alem, Sara Sauer, Jackline Odhiambo, Yap Boum, Miriam Shuchman, Jimmy Volmink

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMJ global health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 142 papers, 14 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
142citing papers in PubMed, 14 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

142 citing papers in PubMed, 14 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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82 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Bethany L Hedt-GauthierDepartment of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9689-5413
Herve Momo JeufackAccenture Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Nicholas H NeufeldDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Atalay AlemDepartment of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Oromia, Ethiopia.
Sara SauerDepartment of Biostatistics, Harvard University T H Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Jackline OdhiamboPartners In Health, Boston, MA, United States.
Yap BoumEpicentre, Médecins Sans Frontières, Yaoundé, Cameroon.ORCID 0000-0002-6823-8539
Miriam ShuchmanDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Jimmy VolminkDepartment of Global Health and Dean's Office, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Funding

GRADUATE TRAINING IN BIOSTATISTICST32ES007142 · NIEHS · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (SCH OF PUBLIC HLTH) · PI Brent Andrew Coull · 1985 to 2026
$11.9M
NIEHS NIH HHS T32 ES007142
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCollaborations are often a cornerstone of global health research. Power dynamics can shape if and how local researchers are included in manuscripts. This article investigates how international collaborations affect the representation of local authors, overall and in first and last author positions, in African health research.

methodsWe extracted papers on 'health' in sub-Saharan Africa indexed in PubMed and published between 2014 and 2016. The author's affiliation was used to classify the individual as from the country of the paper's focus, from another African country, from Europe, from the USA/Canada or from another locale. Authors classified as from the USA/Canada were further subclassified if the author was from a top US university. In primary analyses, individuals with multiple affiliations were presumed to be from a high-income country if they contained any affiliation from a high-income country. In sensitivity analyses, these individuals were presumed to be from an African country if they contained any affiliation an African country. Differences in paper characteristics and representation of local coauthors are compared by collaborative type using χ² tests.

resultsOf the 7100 articles identified, 68.3% included collaborators from the USA, Canada, Europe and/or another African country. 54.0% of all 43 429 authors and 52.9% of 7100 first authors were from the country of the paper's focus. Representation dropped if any collaborators were from USA, Canada or Europe with the lowest representation for collaborators from top US universities-for these papers, 41.3% of all authors and 23.0% of first authors were from country of paper's focus. Local representation was highest with collaborators from another African country. 13.5% of all papers had no local coauthors. DISCUSSION: Individuals, institutions and funders from high-income countries should challenge persistent power differentials in global health research. South-South collaborations can help African researchers expand technical expertise while maintaining presence on the resulting research.

Indexed as

academic collaborationdecolonizing global healthglobal healthresearch equity

Identifiers

PMID31750000
PMCPMC6830050

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.