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African Journal of Reproductive Health
Women's Health and Action Research Centre
ISSN: 1118-4841
Vol. 15, Num. 4, 2011, pp. 9-13
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African Journal of Reproductive Health, Vol. 15, No. 4, Dec, 2011, pp. 9-13
Review Article
Geographical
distribution of publications in the African Journal of Reproductive Health: An
analysis of 2006 - 2010 papers
Répartition géographique des publications dans la Revue africaine de santé de la reproduction : Analyse des articles publiés
entre 2006 et 2010
T Dahiru*1,
AA Aliyu1 and Hussaini G Dikko2
1Department
of Community Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria;
2Department
of Mathematics, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
*For correspondence: Email: tukurdahiru@yahoo.com
Code Number: rh11044
Abstract
Scientific research has been
recognized as one of the cornerstones of economic growth and development.
Publication of research findings in biomedical journals has grown exponentially
in the past few decades globally but the contribution of developing countries
is still abysmally low. To evaluate the productivity of Nigerian biomedical
community, this study was conducted using the African Journal of Reproductive
Health (AJRH) as a benchmark. This was a retrospective review of all articles
published in AJRH between 2006 and 2010. Using a proforma all relevant
information in the journal were extracted. There were a total of 204 articles
produced by 798 authors. In terms of geographical spread of authors within
Nigeria Edo, Oyo and Kaduna states are the three leading states, while outside Nigeria, the US is the leading country. More than 81% of the authors are affiliated to either the
University or Research Institutions. In six publications, funding came from
within Nigeria while in 87 funding was from outside Nigeria (Afr J Reprod
Health 2011; 15[4]:9-13).
Résumé
On
reconnait que la recherche scientifique constitue une des pierres angulaires de
la croissance et du développement économique. La publication des résultats de
recherche dans les revues biomédicales sest accrue mondialement de manière
exponentielle au cours de ces dernières décennies, mais la contribution des
pays en développement demeure encore atrocement basse. Pour évaluer la
productivité de la communauté biomédicale nigériane, nous avons mené cette
étude en nous servant de la Revue africaine de santé de la reproduction (RASR)
comme repère de niveau. Il sagissait dun passage en revue rétrospectif de
tous les articles publiés dans RASR entre 2006 et 2010. Nous avons tiré toutes
les informations pertinentes dans la revue à laide dun pro-forma. En tout,
il y avait 204 articles produits par 798 auteurs. En ce qui concerne la
distribution géographique des auteurs venant du Nigéria, les états dEdo, dOyo
et de Kaduna étaient les trois états les plus importants, alors quen dehors du
Nigéria, les Etats -Unis étaient les plus importants. Plus de 81% des auteurs
affiliés soit é des universités soit é des instituts de recherche. Six
articles ont été financés à partir du Nigéria alors que 87 ont reçu du
financement de lextérieur du Nigéria (Afr
J Reprod Health 2011; 15[4]: 9-13 ).
Keywords: Publications,
Funding, AJRH, Reproductive Health
Introduction
Scientific
research has been recognized as one of the cornerstones of economic growth and
development in developed countries and is gaining momentum for advancing
knowledge and economic development in developing countries1. It has
also been documented that publication of research findings in biomedical
journals has grown exponentially in the past few decades2. Several
reasons have been put forward to explain this increase some of which include:
technological advancement in computer science, increased ease of communication,
the spread of computerized information, the availability of personal computers,
and recent advancements in the World Wide Web3. Additionally, there
has been an increase in support for research through international development
assistance.
In several studies, reports have been documented on
the participation or contribution of different countries in research in several
disciplines 4, 5, 6. In some of these reports, the contribution of
developing countries is very low. An analysis by Soteriades et al involving top
50 biomedical journals between 1995 and 2002 revealed that of the total 107,557
published articles only 239 (0.2%) were from developing countries 3.
Within Africa, however Uthman and Uthman8 reported that South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria are the three leading producers of scientific research, in that
order. Between 1996 and 2005, Nigerian authors contributed 4795 (12.8%)
articles to the quantum of scientific publications in Africa, while her
relative growth during this period was 2094.7%8 as compared to
earlier years.
However, within Nigeria, little is known about the production of scientific research and the relative
contribution of different regions/states, institutions and sectors and the
funding availability for research. To evaluate the contributions of these
factors this study was conducted using the African Journal of Reproductive
Health (AJRH) as a reference. The choice of AJRH was informed, in
our own opinion, because of its frequency/consistency in publication,
relatively long history of publication, credibility of publisher, full time
editorial staff, and membership of ICMJEs, easy access to previous editions and
the availability of a wide range of authors from different parts of the country
as well as outside the country. Additional important factor that influenced our
decision to choose the journal was its ranking by the Nigerian National
Universities Commission (NUC) in 2007 as being the best published journal in
the country in all disciplines that meets international standards9.
However, as a limitation it is narrowed in its area of publication vis-à-vis
reproductive health. Thus, articles in other medical disciplines are not
captured in this journal.
Methods
A
retrospective survey of all articles published in all issues in AJRH
between 2006 and 2010 was conducted. A proforma was designed to collect relevant
information such as year of publication, volume number, number of authors, type
of article, state of domicile of (first) corresponding author if within
Nigeria, geographical location of corresponding author, institutional
affiliation of the corresponding author, collaboration between Nigerian
institutions, collaboration within Nigerian institutions, collaboration with an
institution outside Nigeria and availability of funding. Every issue was
reviewed and using the proforma, relevant information extracted and entered
into the proforma.
For the type of article, these are classified into 4:
original research article, review article, short case or report and commentary.
For the state of domicile of the corresponding author, this is classified
broadly into within Nigeria and outside Nigeria. Nigeria has 36 states with a
federal capital territory (FCT) and corresponding author is assigned to any of
these geographical categories. For those outside Nigeria, the classification is
as follows: West Africa, North Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa and Outside Africa. Corresponding authors are assigned to any of the
following appropriate 9 categories of affiliation:
(1)university/research/teaching institution; (2) Federal Ministry of Health or
any of its Agencies; (3) State Ministry of Health or any of its Agencies;
(4)Local Government Health Department/Health Facility; (5)Private
Individual/Researcher/Student; (6) Affiliation similar to the above 5
categories outside Nigeria but within Africa; (7) Affiliation similar to the
above 5 categories outside Nigeria and also outside Africa; (8) Affiliation to
an international agency (e.g. WHO, UNFPA) or a development partner (e.g.
PEPFAR, CDC, USAID); and (9) not indicated. Collaboration between Nigerian institutions/agencies
is defined as that involving at least one author participating in the
publication from outside the institution of the corresponding author while
within Nigerian institutions collaboration involves at least one author from
the institution of the corresponding author but from a different unit, division
or department. Collaboration outside Nigeria involves a Nigerian institution
with a foreign institution or all the institution(s) if the corresponding
author is outside Nigeria.
Funding for
research for could either come from within Nigeria or outside Nigeria. Funding from individuals, agencies, institutions based outside Nigeria are considered outside funding while those based within Nigeria are considered from within.
However, for any of the UN agency providing funding through its office in Nigeria, the funding is considered as within. But for development partners such as Ford
Foundation, Mac Arthur Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation their
funding is considered outside funding. Extracted information was entered and
analyzed using SPSSv16.
Results
There
are a total of 204 articles produced by a total of 798 authors. Maximum number
of authors is 14 while the minimum is 1 and the mean is 4 authors per article.
The distribution of articles by year of publication and other information is
given in Table 1.
In terms of geographical spread of authors, Table 2
indicates that Edo, Oyo and Kaduna states are the three leading states in terms
publications during the period. Outside Nigeria, the US is the leading country.
More than 81% of the authors are affiliated to either the University or
Research Institution (Table 3). In six
publications, funding came from within Nigeria while in 87 funding was from
outside Nigeria (Table 4).
Discussion
The
findings of this study brings to the fore the contributions of geographical
location, institutional affiliation, collaboration as well as availability of
funding to scientific research and publication in Nigeria. To the best of the
authors knowledge this is the first study exploring these factors within the
Nigerian biomedical community.
Table
1: Characteristics of articles
published in AJRH between 2006 and 2010
Number
of articles published annually |
Year |
Frequency |
Percent |
2006 |
32 |
15.7 |
2007 |
38 |
18.6 |
2008 |
41 |
20.1 |
2009 |
50 |
24.5 |
2020 |
43 |
21.1 |
Total |
204 |
100.0 |
Type
of Article |
1 |
179 |
87.7 |
2 |
7 |
3.4 |
3 |
14 |
6.9 |
4 |
4 |
2.0 |
Total |
204 |
100.0 |
Number
of authors per article |
1 |
19 |
9.3 |
2 |
55 |
27.0 |
3 |
32 |
15.7 |
4 |
31 |
15.2 |
5 |
22 |
10.8 |
6 |
22 |
10.8 |
7+ |
23 |
11.4 |
Total |
204 |
100.0 |
Mean
=3.91, Max = 14, Min =1,
Sum
of authors = 798 |
Geographical
location of corresponding author |
Within
Nigeria |
100 |
49.0 |
Outside
Nigeria |
103 |
50.5 |
Total |
203* |
99.5 |
*Location of corresponding author not indicated in
one article
The
findings of this study are glaring: less than half of the authors are from Nigeria, overwhelming majority of the authors are from university/research institutions; within Nigeria, states from the southern part of the country produce more knowledge compared to their northern
peers and only six out of 93 funded researches are funded by agencies within Nigeria.
Within Nigeria, Edo and Oyo states took the lead in
publication; majority of the authors are affiliated to Universities of Benin
and Ibadan. It could be that proximity of these authors to the editorial team
of the Journal is the reason for their articles being published with speed or
perhaps it may that their articles have the required ingredients. Further
scrutiny of funding availability indicates that six of the nineteen articles
published by authors from Oyo State received funding but there was none for
authors from Edo State. Thus, funding could not explain the disproportionate
publications by authors from Edo State. Outside Nigeria, the US leads other countries in publications.
Table
2: Distribution of geographical
location of corresponding authors within and outside Nigeria
Geographical
location |
Frequency |
Percent |
Within
Nigeria |
Edo |
24 |
11.8 |
Oyo |
19 |
9.3 |
Kaduna |
10 |
4.9 |
Enugu |
7 |
3.4 |
Plateau |
6 |
2.9 |
Lagos |
5 |
2.5 |
Ebonyi |
4 |
2.0 |
Imo |
4 |
2.0 |
Kano |
4 |
2.0 |
Outside
Nigeria |
USA |
24 |
11.8 |
RSA |
6 |
2.9 |
UK |
6 |
2.9 |
Ghana |
5 |
2.5 |
Ethiopia |
5 |
2.5 |
Cameroon |
4 |
2.0 |
Sweden |
4 |
2.0 |
Uganda |
4 |
2.0 |
Table
3: Distribution of affiliation of
corresponding author
Affiliation** |
Frequency |
Percent |
1 |
167 |
81.9 |
2 |
1 |
0.5 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
0.5 |
5 |
2 |
1.0 |
6 |
5 |
2.5 |
7 |
1 |
0.5 |
8 |
19 |
9.3 |
99¶ |
8 |
3.9 |
Total |
204 |
100.0 |
**Number
codes as described in the methodology section
¶Affiliation
not indicated in 8 articles
An
important ingredient which is crucial in research and production of knowledge
is collaboration. Despite its importance, this study shows very little
collaboration both internally and externally. Between Nigerian institutions,
only in 19% of the publications there was collaboration; within Nigerian
institutions only 16% of the authors collaborated. Collaboration with
institutions outside Nigeria produced 42% of the publications. Perhaps,
Nigerian institutions lack capacity at both institutional and individual level
to collaborate and offer synergistic advantage to produce knowledge.
Table
4: Type of collaborations involved
Type of Collaboration |
Frequency |
Percent |
Between
Nigerian Institutions |
38 |
18.6 |
Within
Nigerian Institutions |
33 |
16.2 |
With
outside Institution/ Institutions outside Nigeria |
87 |
42.6 |
Table
5: Sources of funding and funding
agencies within and outside Nigeria
Source
of funding |
Frequency |
Percent |
Within
Nigeria |
CRD,BUK
dRPC
NACA
MDG Office
WHO
Zankli Medical Center |
1
1
1
1
1
1 |
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5 |
Total |
6 |
3.0 |
Outside
Nigeria |
NIH (PRPH)
Gates/Rockefeller/NICHHD
Mac Arthur Foundation
SIDA/SAREC
Ford Foundation
Bill and Melinda Gates
DfID
Others |
7
6
5
5
3
2
2
57 |
3.4
2.9
2.5
2.5
1.5
1.0
1.0
27.9 |
Total |
87 |
42.7 |
Funding
is another critical factor in research. From this study, it is very clear that
internal funding for research is extremely poor; only six publications are
consequence of internally funded. Among the articles that are consequence of
funding, overwhelming 94% were funded by external agencies. It is important to
note that Nigeria has 27 federal universities, 34 private universities and 51
federal health institutions with an institute for medical research. Despite
these numbers, funding for research shown in this study did not come from any
of these federal agencies. The universities and the Nigerian Institute of
Medical Research (NIMR) are supposed to provide leadership in research and
knowledge dissemination. Appalling finding from this study is that both the
Nigerian Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS (NACA) and the MDG Office funded
only one research each leading to publication (Table 5). These two
organizations together with WHO are by their existence required to provide
funds for research to solve new and challenging health problems. Operations
research is supposed to respond to new challenges of service delivery and
quality issues but this response has not been forthcoming from these agencies.
Thus, while funding was not forthcoming from within, external organizations
provided the funds. This is evidenced by the finding in this inquiry that 7 out
of the 10 publications by authors from Ahmadu Bello University Teaching
Hospital are funded by funds provided (by National Institutes of Health)
through a collaboration with University of California at Berkeley under the
auspices of Population and Reproductive Health Partnership (PRHP).
Limitations
This
study suffers from limitations such as: (1) selection bias; there are several
local journals in the country and selecting only one and for that a specialist
journal in reproductive health we feel that this has introduced a bias in the
range of factors that can affect publication of scientific knowledge; articles
published in other journals are not included. A general medical journal would
have overcome this bias but as we have indicated in the introduction we do not
have access to such journals' previous 5 years publications; (2) as has been
pointed out by Kremer JAM, simple counts of the number of publications are only
crude estimates of research productivity of a country/region. However, there is
no superior practical way of assessing research productivity besides simple
article counts.
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Copyright 2011 - Women's Health and Action Research Centre, Benin City, Nigeria.
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