Authorship Disparities in International Neurosurgical Research Collaborations: A Bibliometric Analysis

Edward I Ham; Daniela A Perez-Chadid; Zhe Wang; Hodan Abdi; Nathan A Shlobin; Ahmed Negida; Ernest J Barthélemy; Nqobile Thango; Kee B Park; Ignatius N Esene

doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2023.06.044

Authorship Disparities in International Neurosurgical Research Collaborations: A Bibliometric Analysis

World Neurosurg. 2023 Jun 20:S1878-8750(23)00815-X. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2023.06.044. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Electronic address: edward.ham@stonybrookmedicine.edu.
² CES University Faculty of Medicine, Medellín, Colombia.
³ Department of Neurological Surgery, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
⁴ Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
⁵ Department of Neurological Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
⁶ Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA; Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
⁷ Division of Neurosurgery, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁸ Neurosurgery Division, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bamenda, Bambili, Cameroon.

PMID: 37348602
DOI: 10.1016/j.wneu.2023.06.044

Abstract

Background: Research is pivotal to neurosurgical training and practice. The objectives of this study were to quantify neurosurgical research output by authors from low-income countries (LICs), using author affiliation as a proxy, and to understand the patterns of collaboration between LIC authors and their international partners.

Methods: PubMed, CINAHL, and EMBASE were searched for neurosurgical literature published by authors from the 27 World Bank LICs from 2010 to 2020. These articles were screened for relevance. Information about publication type, study design, and author demographics was then extracted from included articles. Scopus was subsequently used to determine the H-indices of the authors.

Results: The rate at which LIC authors have been publishing neurosurgical research has increased significantly from 2010 to 2020. Overall, 19 of the 27 LICs were represented. The LICs with the most research output includes Uganda, Ethiopia, and Rwanda. When LIC authors collaborated with authors from middle-or-high-income countries, these LIC researchers were solely listed in a middle authorship position more than 70% of the time. On average, the H-index of LIC authors was 4.9, compared with average H-indices of 8.7 and 16.8 for their MIC and HIC collaborators, respectively.

Conclusions: The positioning of LIC researchers as middle author contributors revealed significant authorship disparities in international neurosurgical research collaborations. The average H-indices of authors from middle-or-high-income countries were more than 3 times greater than those of LIC authors. Quantifying this issue allows neurosurgical organizations to understand the current landscape and to set concrete goals for research capacity building in LICs.

Keywords: Authorship; Global health; Global neurosurgery; LIC; Low-income-country; Research equity.

Publication types

Review