SynthesisBMJ global health2019
Who is telling the story? A systematic review of authorship for infectious disease research conducted in Africa, 1980-2016.
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 83 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
83 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Strengthening research capacity: a systematic review of manuscript writing and publishing interventions for researchers in low-income and middle-income countries.BMJ global health · 2022Pooled it
- Equity in clinical trials for HIV-associated cryptococcal meningitis: A systematic review of global representation and inclusion of patients and researchers.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Pooled it
- Conference equity in global health: a systematic review of factors impacting LMIC representation at global health conferences.BMJ global health · 2021Pooled it
- Hypertension treatment in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review.Cardiovascular journal of AfricaPooled it
- Shifting power in global health research: a checklist for research funders.Global health action · 2026Article
- Superstitions on Human Papillomavirus in Africa: A Scoping Review.Public health challenges · 2026Review
- Research capacity and decolonisation in Sub-Saharan Africa: a bibliometric analysis.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Building research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa: findings from a pilot scientific writing workshop in Cameroon.BMC research notes · 2026Article
- Scientific writing capacity building with early career researchers during study implementation: The Enterics for Global Health seven-country experience.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Gendered male and high-income country authors dominate publication at a One Health research organization.PloS one · 2026Article
- An emerging TIMER-2C framework for addressing barriers to research culture and productivity among local healthcare providers in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa: A qualitative study and modified Delphi approach.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Scoping review of artificial intelligence via mobile technology and social media for health in Africa.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Imbalances in authorship, geographic and institutional contexts, and funding sources in research on gender approaches to sexual and reproductive health in Africa: a scoping review.Sexual and reproductive health matters · 2025Article
- Assessing patterns of authorship of low- and middle-income countries in global commercial clinical trials in oncology.Globalization and health · 2025Article
- A scoping review of equity toolkits for international academic partnerships.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Global Research Trends on Major Pathogenic Enteric Viruses (1990-2024): A Bibliometric Analysis of Epidemiology, Transmission, and Public Health Impact.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Composing authorship teams for health equity: an introduction to the health equity research production model.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Impact of a comprehensive two-year research capacity intervention with sexual and reproductive health researchers in Sub-Saharan Africa.Reproductive health · 2025Article
- Exploring supportive roles for global north investigators in global health research.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Self-Reflection as a Starting Point: Observations in Global Health Research.Global health, science and practice · 2024Article
23 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionAfrica contributes little to the biomedical literature despite its high burden of infectious diseases. Global health research partnerships aimed at addressing Africa-endemic disease may be polarised. Therefore, we assessed the contribution of researchers in Africa to research on six infectious diseases.
methodsWe reviewed publications on HIV and malaria (2013-2016), tuberculosis (2014-2016), salmonellosis, Ebola haemorrhagic fever and Buruli ulcer disease (1980-2016) conducted in Africa and indexed in the PubMed database using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol. Papers reporting original research done in Africa with at least one laboratory test performed on biological samples were included. We studied African author proportion and placement per study type, disease, funding, study country and lingua franca.
resultsWe included 1182 of 2871 retrieved articles that met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 1109 (93.2%) had at least one Africa-based author, 552 (49.8%) had an African first author and 41.3% (n=458) an African last author. Papers on salmonellosis and tuberculosis had a higher proportion of African last authors (p<0.001) compared with the other diseases. Most of African first and last authors had an affiliation from an Anglophone country. HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and Ebola had the most extramurally funded studies (≥70%), but less than 10% of the acknowledged funding was from an African funder.
conclusionAfrican researchers are under-represented in first and last authorship positions in papers published from research done in Africa. This calls for greater investment in capacity building and equitable research partnerships at every level of the global health community.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.