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

doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7457.110-a

BMJ 2004;329:110 (10 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7457.110-a

Letter

Representation of authors and editors from poor countries

Partnerships may well be unequal

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—The findings by Keiser et al with regard to poorrepresentation of countries with a low human development indexon the boards of international journals in tropical medicineis not surprising.¹ They have done well to highlight this disparityin an area where local knowledge is key. It would also be interestingto examine whether there was notable overlap between differentboards. In other words, did the developing country members consistof "the usual suspects"?

Underinvestment in research and health care in many developingcountries undoubtedly accounts for some of the disparity. Yetthe issues of wider power dynamics play a part. For example,the authors call for more research partnership between richerand poorer nations, but the question is whether you can havea partnership of unequals. With most of the funding for researchcoming from the wealthier countries of the West, it is extremelydifficult, and . . . [Full text of this article]

Ike Anya, specialist registrar in public health medicine

Bristol North Primary Care Trust, Bristol BS2 8EE ikechuku.anya@lshtm.ac.uk

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Representation of authors and editors from countries with different human development indexes in the leading literature on tropical medicine: survey of current evidence: Jennifer Keiser, Jürg Utzinger, Marcel Tanner, and Burton H Singer
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