Abstract
Background: Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have been consistently under-represented in the pool of contributors to academic journals on health. For the past two decades, prominent voices within the psychiatric profession have called for better representation of LMICs in the interest of advancing the understanding of mental health globally and benefiting health systems in these countries. Objective: To investigate the absolute and relative representation of authors affiliated to institutes from LMICs in the most influential journals on mental health in 2019. Method: Thirty top-ranking journals on mental health based on Scimago Journal Rank were selected, and all papers other than correspondence and letters to the editor published in those journals in 2019 were examined to extract the country of affiliation of each of their authors and their position (corresponding author, first author, second author). Results: Of the 4022 articles examined, 3720 articles (92.5%) were written exclusively by authors from high-income countries (HICs); 302 (7.5%) featured one or more authors from a LMIC along with those from HICs; 91 (2.2%) featured authors only from one LMIC; and only 3 (0.07%) featured authors from more than one LMICs but without any co-author from a HIC. The ratio of articles by contributors from LMICs to all the articles published in 2019 in a given journal ranged from 0% to 19%. Of 1855 individual contributors from 45 LMICs, 1050 (56%) were from China. Conclusion: Despite the growth of the global health movement and frequent calls for academic inclusivity, LMICs were significantly under-represented among the authors of papers published in top-ranking journals on mental health in 2019.  
Highlights
The growth of research capacity in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) has been identified as a global public health priority for decades.[1]
The thirty journals provided a total of 4022 articles, of which 3720 (92.5) featured no author from any Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs); 302 (7.5%) featured at least one author from a LMIC; 146 (3.63%) showed their first author to be from a LMIC; and 143 (3.56%) showed the corresponding author to be from a LMIC
A closer look at the selected journals showed an uneven distribution of contributions by authors from LMICs: articles with at least one author affiliated to a LMIC accounted for 0%–19% of the total, with a median of 6% (Figure 1)
Summary
The growth of research capacity in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) has been identified as a global public health priority for decades.[1]. Studies of authors who contribute to academic journals consistently reveal a disproportionate representation skewed in favour of HICs irrespective of the subject domain or discipline. In a bibliographic analysis carried out in 2018 and spanning a century of research output on health and human rights, nearly 80% of more than 6500 published articles were from HICs, with USA alone accounting for 28% of them.[2] A survey of articles published in The Lancet Global Health between 2013 and 2017 noted that 35% of the contributions were from LMICs.[5] An analysis of editorial boards of 12 global health journals revealed that only a third of their members were based in LMICs, and even fewer of such members occupied senior leadership positions.[6] Even in papers on studies. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have been consistently under-represented in the pool of contributors to academic journals on health. Conclusion: Despite the growth of the global health movement and frequent calls for academic inclusivity, LMICs were significantly under-represented among the authors of papers published in top-ranking journals on mental health in 2019.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
