The World Neurosurgery Global Champions Program: First-Year Experience of a Model Initiative for Reducing Disparities in Global Neurosurgical Literature

Nathan A Shlobin; Simon Savage; Alexander Savage; Tania Torbati; Zhe Wang; Sebastian Salas-Vega; Marcella Mota; Alejandro Pando; Breanna Sheldon; Alison M Westrup; Jonathan Ogulnick; Jad Zreik; Nada A H AlKahtani; Damilola Jesuyajolu; Kasereka Kamabu Larrey; Tarig Fadalla; Uma Mahajan; Nihal Manijla; Rohin Singh; Andrew Wang; Ulrick Sidney Kanmounye; Christine Moore; Edward C Benzel; Gail Rosseau

doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2023.06.015

The World Neurosurgery Global Champions Program: First-Year Experience of a Model Initiative for Reducing Disparities in Global Neurosurgical Literature

World Neurosurg. 2023 Jun 9:S1878-8750(23)00783-0. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2023.06.015. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Nathan A Shlobin¹, Simon Savage², Alexander Savage², Tania Torbati³, Zhe Wang⁴, Sebastian Salas-Vega⁵, Marcella Mota⁶, Alejandro Pando⁷, Breanna Sheldon⁸, Alison M Westrup⁹, Jonathan Ogulnick¹⁰, Jad Zreik¹¹, Nada A H AlKahtani¹², Damilola Jesuyajolu¹³, Kasereka Kamabu Larrey¹⁴, Tarig Fadalla¹⁵, Uma Mahajan¹⁶, Nihal Manijla¹⁷, Rohin Singh¹⁸, Andrew Wang¹⁹, Ulrick Sidney Kanmounye²⁰, Christine Moore²¹, Edward C Benzel²², Gail Rosseau²³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurological Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Electronic address: nathan.shlobin@northwestern.edu.
² Department of Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
³ Department of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California, USA.
⁴ Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Chicago School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
⁵ Inova Neurosurgery, Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia, USA.
⁶ Faculdade Ciências Médicas de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
⁷ Department of Neurological Surgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
⁸ Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
⁹ Department of Neurosurgery, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA.
¹⁰ Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook, New York, USA.
¹¹ Central Michigan University College of Medicine, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, USA.
¹² College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
¹³ Department of Neurological Surgery, Salford Royal Hospital, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, United Kingdom.
¹⁴ Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
¹⁵ Soba University of Hospital, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan.
¹⁶ School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
¹⁷ Case Western University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Neurological Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
¹⁹ David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
²⁰ Research Department, Association of Future African Neurosurgeons, Yaounde, Cameroon.
²¹ World Neurosurgery, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
²² Department of Neurosurgery, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
²³ Department of Neurological Surgery, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Barrow Global, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

PMID: 37301534
DOI: 10.1016/j.wneu.2023.06.015

Abstract

Objective: Most surgical journals are published in English, representing a challenge for researchers from non-Anglophone countries. We describe the implementation, workflow, outcomes, and lessons learned from the WORLD NEUROSURGERY Global Champions Program (GCP), a novel journal-specific English language editing program for articles rejected because of poor English grammar or usage.

Methods: The GCP was advertised via the journal website and social media. Applicants were selected to be a reviewer for the GCP if they demonstrated English proficiency on writing samples supplied in their application. The demographics of GCP members and characteristics and outcomes of articles edited by the GCP during its first year were reviewed. Surveys of GCP members and authors who used the service were conducted.

Results: Twenty-one individuals became part of the GCP, representing 8 countries and 16 languages apart from English. A total of 380 manuscripts were peer reviewed by the editor-in-chief, who determined these manuscripts to have potentially worthwhile content but needed to be rejected due to poor language. The authors of these manuscripts were informed of the existence of this language assistance program. Forty-nine articles (12.9%) were edited by the GCP in 41.6 ± 22.8 days. Of 40 articles resubmitted to WORLD NEUROSURGERY, 24 (60.0%) were accepted. GCP members and authors understood the purpose and workflow of the program and recognized improvements in article quality and the probability of acceptance through their participation.

Conclusions: The WORLD NEUROSURGERY Global Champions Program mitigated a critical barrier to publication in an English language journal for authors from non-Anglophone countries. This program promotes research equity by providing a free, largely medical student and trainee operated, English language editing service. This model or a similar service can be replicated by other journals.

Keywords: Global health; Global neurosurgery; Global surgery; Health disparities; Health equity; Neurologic surgery; Research equity.