Abstract
BackgroundTo sustain the critical progress made, prioritization and a multidisciplinary approach to malaria research remain important to the national malaria control program in Benin. To document the structure of the malaria collaborative research in Benin, we analyze authorship of the scientific documents published on malaria from Benin.MethodsWe collected bibliographic data from the Web Of Science on malaria research in Benin from January 1996 to December 2016. From the collected data, a mulitigraph co-authorship network with authors representing vertices was generated. An edge was drawn between two authors when they co-author a paper. We computed vertex degree, betweenness, closeness, and eigenvectors among others to identify prolific authors. We further assess the weak points and how information flow in the network. Finally, we perform a hierarchical clustering analysis, and Monte-Carlo simulations.ResultsOverall, 427 publications were included in this study. The generated network contained 1792 authors and 116,388 parallel edges which converted in a weighted graph of 1792 vertices and 95,787 edges. Our results suggested that prolific authors with higher degrees tend to collaborate more. The hierarchical clustering revealed 23 clusters, seven of which form a giant component containing 94% of all the vertices in the network. This giant component has all the characteristics of a small-world network with a small shortest path distance between pairs of three, a diameter of 10 and a high clustering coefficient of 0.964. However, Monte-Carlo simulations suggested our observed network is an unusual type of small-world network. Sixteen vertices were identified as weak articulation points within the network.ConclusionThe malaria research collaboration network in Benin is a complex network that seems to display the characteristics of a small-world network. This research reveals the presence of closed research groups where collaborative research likely happens only between members. Interdisciplinary collaboration tends to occur at higher levels between prolific researchers. Continuously supporting, stabilizing the identified key brokers and most productive authors in the Malaria research collaborative network is an urgent need in Benin. It will foster the malaria research network and ensure the promotion of junior scientists in the field.
Highlights
To sustain the critical progress made, prioritization and a multidisciplinary approach to malaria research remain important to the national malaria control program in Benin
With these financial supports at hand, such efforts in Benin have led to a sharp increase in public health interventions and many positive public health outcomes in terms of the reduction of mortality and morbidity related to Malaria [5]
Our study focuses on the Network analysis of the scientific collaborations through co-authorship network analysis
Summary
To sustain the critical progress made, prioritization and a multidisciplinary approach to malaria research remain important to the national malaria control program in Benin. In Benin, initiatives such as the US President’s Malaria Initiative have supported governmental and non-governmental organizations to reduce the mortality and morbidity related to Malaria [3, 4] With these financial supports at hand, such efforts in Benin have led to a sharp increase in public health interventions and many positive public health outcomes in terms of the reduction of mortality and morbidity related to Malaria [5]. Such increase in public health interventions translated in the successful implementation and sustainability of entomological surveillance of malaria for more than six years since 2008 [6]. This encouraging success stories have even motivated other authors to enunciate the ambitious malaria eradication plan [8]
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