Where there is no local author: a network bibliometric analysis of authorship parasitism among research conducted in sub-Saharan Africa

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Christopher Rees, Emory University; Mohsin Ali, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto; Rodrick Kisenge, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences; Readon C Ideh, John F Kennedy Med Ctr; Stephanie J Sirna, Weill Cornell Med; Carl D Britto, Boston Combined Residency Program; Peter N Kazembe, Baylor Children's Foundation-Malawi; Michelle Niescierenko, Boston Children's Hospital; Christopher P Duggan, Boston Children's Hospital; Karim P Manji, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-10-01
• Publisher: BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006982
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: BMJ GLOBAL HEALTH
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 10
• Grant/Funding Information: The funders had no role in the study design or in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data. The funders did not write the report and had no role in the decision to submit the paper for publication.; CPD was supported, in part, by the National Institutes of Health (K24 DK104676 and P30 DK040561).
• Keywords: COUNTRIES; GLOBAL-HEALTH; EQUITY; SCIENCE; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; public health; TRENDS; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Science & Technology; cross-sectional survey
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

Introduction Authorship 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. Methods A 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. Results Of 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. Conclusions Authorship 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.