BMJ  2004;328:1229-1232 (22 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.38069.518137.F6 (published 1 April 2004)

Paper

Representation of authors and editors from countries with different human development indexes in the leading literature on tropical medicine: survey of current evidence

¹ Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA, ² Swiss Tropical Institute, PO Box, CH-4002 Basle, Switzerland

Objective To assess the current international representation of members of editorial and advisory boards and authors in the leading peer reviewed literature on tropical medicine.

Design Systematic review.

Main outcome measures Country affiliations, as classified by the human development index, of editorial and advisory board members of all tropical medicine journals referenced by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) as of late 2003 and of all contributing authors of full articles published in the six leading journals on tropical medicine in 2000-2.

Results Sixteen (5.1%) of the 315 editorial and advisory board members from the 12 ISI referenced journals on tropical medicine are affiliated to countries with a low human development index and 223 (70.8%) to countries with a high index. Examination of the 2384 full articles published in 2000-2 in the six highest ranking tropical medicine journals showed that 48.1% of contributing authors are affiliated to countries with a high human development index, whereas the percentage of authors from countries with a low index was 13.7%. Articles written exclusively by authors from low ranked countries accounted for 5.0%. Our data indicate that research collaborations between a country with a high human development index and one that has either a medium or a low index are common and account for 26.5% and 16.1% of all full articles, respectively.

Conclusion Current collaborations should be transformed into research partnerships, with the goals of mutual learning and institutional capacity strengthening in the developing world.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Capacity building in collaborative research is essential

Prem K Mony, Anura Kurpad, and Mario Vaz
BMJ 2005 331: 843-844. [Extract] [Full Text]

Representation of authors and editors from poor countries: Observed publication bias may reflect who is funding research

Ranjit Manchanda and Rajesh Varma
BMJ 2004 329: 110. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Representation of authors and editors from poor countries: Partnerships may well be unequal

Ike Anya
BMJ 2004 329: 110. [Extract] [Full Text]

Representation of authors and editors from poor countries: Quality medical research from poor countries could be privileged in high impact journals

Joseph Y S Ting
BMJ 2004 329: 110-111. [Extract] [Full Text]

More editors and authors from poor countries are needed
BMJ 2004 328: 0. [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Jacobsen, K H (2009). Patterns of co-authorship in international epidemiology. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 63: 665-669 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Low, N., Aral, S., Cassell, J. A (2007). Travelling far but staying close to home. Sex. Transm. Infect. 83: 501-502 [Full text]  
• Yamey, G., Hotez, P. (2007). Neglected tropical diseases. BMJ 335: 269-270 [Full text]  
• Vecchio, R. P. (2006). Journal Reviewer Ratings: Issues of Particularistic Bias, Agreement, and Predictive Validity Within the Manuscript Review Process. Bulletin of Science Technology Society 26: 228-242 [Abstract]  
• Soteriades, E. S., Rosmarakis, E. S., Paraschakis, K., Falagas, M. E. (2006). Research contribution of different world regions in the top 50 biomedical journals (1995-2002). FASEB J. 20: 29-34 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Mony, P. K, Kurpad, A., Vaz, M. (2005). Capacity building in collaborative research is essential. BMJ 331: 843-844 [Full text]  
• Tutarel, O (2005). How international are leading general paediatric journals?. Arch. Dis. Child. 90: 816-817 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Bauchner, H. (2005). Atoms. Arch. Dis. Child. 90: 771-771 [Full text]  
• Grass, G., Reveiz, L., Cardona, A. F., Ospina, E. G., Kulvichit, K., Kulwichit, W., Lumbiganon, P. (2005). Clinical trial registration.. NEJM 352: 198-199 [Full text]  
• Raja, A. J, Singer, P. A (2004). Transatlantic divide in publication of content relevant to developing countries. BMJ 329: 1429-1430 [Full text]  
• Manchanda, R., Varma, R. (2004). Representation of authors and editors from poor countries: Observed publication bias may reflect who is funding research. BMJ 329: 110-110 [Full text]  
• Anya, I. (2004). Representation of authors and editors from poor countries: Partnerships may well be unequal. BMJ 329: 110-110 [Full text]  
• Ting, J. Y S (2004). Representation of authors and editors from poor countries: Quality medical research from poor countries could be privileged in high impact journals. BMJ 329: 110-111 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Lead Kindly Light

BM Hegde
bmj.com, 20 May 2004 [Full text]

Unequal partnerships?

Ike Anya
bmj.com, 22 May 2004 [Full text]

Observed publication bias may reflect who is funding the research?

Ranjit Manchanda, et al.
bmj.com, 24 May 2004 [Full text]

Quality medical research from low index of development countries could be privileged in high impact journals

Joseph Y. S. Ting, et al.
bmj.com, 26 May 2004 [Full text]

Online poll

Find out more on doc2doc >>