ArticleBMJ global health2021
Where there is no local author: a network bibliometric analysis of authorship parasitism among research conducted in sub-Saharan Africa.
Article in BMJ global health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- A review and analysis of accountability in global health funding, research collaborations and training: towards conceptual clarity and better practice.BMJ global health · 2023Pooled it
- Authorship representation in global emergency medicine: a bibliometric analysis from 2016 to 2020.BMJ global health · 2022Pooled it
- Can a sovereign health research culture bolster Africa's involvement in global health?Global health action · 2026Article
- Locally-affiliated authorship in global eye health research conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa between 2003 and 2022.Eye (London, England) · 2026Article
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- Advancing Equity for Global Health Author Teams within the Publishing Ecosystem.Annals of global health · 2026Article
- Does ChatGPT enhance equity for global health publications? Copyediting by ChatGPT compared to Grammarly and a human editor.PloS one · 2026Article
- Patient and author diversity and representation in studies supporting the European Respiratory Society/European Society of Intensive Care Medicine/European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases/Asociación Latinoamericana de Tórax severe community-acquired pneumonia guidelines.Respiratory research & clinical practice · 2026Article
- 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
- Authorship Inequity in Global Health Research Conducted in Low- and Middle-Income Countries and Published in High-Income Country Family Medicine Journals.Annals of family medicine · 2025Article
- The target trial framework in global health research: barriers and opportunities.Journal of global health · 2025Review
- Exploring supportive roles for global north investigators in global health research.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Decolonizing global health research: experiences from the women in health and their economic, equity and livelihood statuses during emergency preparedness and response (WHEELER) study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Utilization of Oxford Nanopore Technology for human infectious disease detection and surveillance in Africa: a scoping review.Access microbiology · 2025Article
- Promoting More Equitable Global Health Research, Education, and Community Partnerships: The Efforts of One US‑Based Academic Institution.Annals of global health · 2025Article
- Strengthening Global Health Research.Global health action · 2023Review
- Authorship inequalities in global health research: the IeDEA Southern Africa collaboration.BMJ global health · 2023Article
- The state of global research on poverty after SDG declaration.Public health challenges · 2023Review
- Breast Cancer Germline Genetic Counseling and Testing for Populations of African Heritage Globally: A Scoping Review on Research, Practice, and Bioethical Considerations.JCO global oncology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionAuthorship parasitism (ie, no authors affiliated with the country in which the study took place) occurs frequently in research conducted in low-income and middle-income countries, despite published recommendations defining authorship criteria. The objective was to compare characteristics of articles exhibiting authorship parasitism in sub-Saharan Africa to articles with author representation from sub-Saharan African countries.
methodsA bibliometric review of articles indexed in PubMed published from January 2014 through December 2018 reporting research conducted in sub-Saharan Africa was performed. Author affiliations were assigned to countries based on regular expression algorithms. Choropleth maps and network diagrams were created to determine where authorship parasitism occurred, and multivariable logistic regression was used to determine associated factors.
resultsOf 32 061 articles, 14.8% (n=4754) demonstrated authorship parasitism, which was most common among studies from Somalia (n=175/233, 75.1%) and Sao Tome and Principe (n=20/28, 71.4%). Authors affiliated with USA and UK institutions were most commonly involved in articles exhibiting authorship parasitism. Authorship parasitism was more common in articles: published in North American journals (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.26, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.50) than in sub-Saharan African journals, reporting work from multiple sub-Saharan African countries (aOR 8.41, 95% CI 7.30 to 9.68) compared with work from upper-middle income sub-Saharan African countries, with <5 authors (aOR 14.46, 95% CI 12.81 to 16.35) than >10 authors, and was less common in articles published in French (aOR 0.60, 95% CI 0.41 to 0.85) than English.
conclusionsAuthorship parasitism was common in articles reporting research conducted in sub-Saharan Africa. There were reliable predictors of authorship parasitism. Investigators and institutions in high-income countries, as well as funding agencies and journals should promote research from sub-Saharan Africa, including its publication, in a collaborative and equitable manner.
Indexed as
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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.