1
|
Balakrishnan K, Kaufman JD. Journal of Health and Pollution: Fostering Equity in Access to Environmental Health Research Evidence. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES 2023; 131:101001. [PMID: 37824085 PMCID: PMC10569266 DOI: 10.1289/ehp14069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Kalpana Balakrishnan
- Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Public Health, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, India
| | - Joel D. Kaufman
- Environmental Health Perspectives, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA
- Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, Medicine, and Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Boudry C, Alvarez-Muñoz P, Arencibia-Jorge R, Ayena D, Brouwer NJ, Chaudhuri Z, Chawner B, Epee E, Erraïs K, Fotouhi A, Gharaibeh AM, Hassanein DH, Herwig-Carl MC, Howard K, Kaimbo Wa Kaimbo D, Laughrea PA, Lopez FA, Machin-Mastromatteo JD, Malerbi FK, Ndiaye PA, Noor NA, Pacheco-Mendoza J, Papastefanou VP, Shah M, Shields CL, Wang YX, Yartsev V, Mouriaux F. Worldwide inequality in access to full text scientific articles: the example of ophthalmology. PeerJ 2019; 7:e7850. [PMID: 31687270 PMCID: PMC6825414 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.7850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2019] [Accepted: 09/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The problem of access to medical information, particularly in low-income countries, has been under discussion for many years. Although a number of developments have occurred in the last decade (e.g., the open access (OA) movement and the website Sci-Hub), everyone agrees that these difficulties still persist very widely, mainly due to the fact that paywalls still limit access to approximately 75% of scholarly documents. In this study, we compare the accessibility of recent full text articles in the field of ophthalmology in 27 established institutions located worldwide. Methods A total of 200 references from articles were retrieved using the PubMed database. Each article was individually checked for OA. Full texts of non-OA (i.e., “paywalled articles”) were examined to determine whether they were available using institutional and Hinari access in each institution studied, using “alternative ways” (i.e., PubMed Central, ResearchGate, Google Scholar, and Online Reprint Request), and using the website Sci-Hub. Results The number of full texts of “paywalled articles” available using institutional and Hinari access showed strong heterogeneity, scattered between 0% full texts to 94.8% (mean = 46.8%; SD = 31.5; median = 51.3%). We found that complementary use of “alternative ways” and Sci-Hub leads to 95.5% of full text “paywalled articles,” and also divides by 14 the average extra costs needed to obtain all full texts on publishers’ websites using pay-per-view. Conclusions The scant number of available full text “paywalled articles” in most institutions studied encourages researchers in the field of ophthalmology to use Sci-Hub to search for scientific information. The scientific community and decision-makers must unite and strengthen their efforts to find solutions to improve access to scientific literature worldwide and avoid an implosion of the scientific publishing model. This study is not an endorsement for using Sci-Hub. The authors, their institutions, and publishers accept no responsibility on behalf of readers.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Boudry
- Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, Média Normandie, Caen, France.,URFIST, Ecole Nationale des Chartes, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | | | - Ricardo Arencibia-Jorge
- Empresa de Tecnologías de la Información (ETI), Grupo de las Industrias Biotecnológica y Farmacéutica (BioCubaFarma), Havana, Cuba
| | - Didier Ayena
- Université de Lomé, Faculté des Sciences de la santé, Hôpital de Bè, Lomé, Togo
| | - Niels J Brouwer
- Leiden University Medical Center, Department of Ophthalmology, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Zia Chaudhuri
- University of Delhi, Lady Hardinge Medical College, PGIMER, Dr RML Hospital, New Delhi, India
| | - Brenda Chawner
- Victoria University of Wellington, School of Information Management, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Emilienne Epee
- Université de Yaoundé, Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences Biomédicales, Yaoundé, Cameroon
| | - Khalil Erraïs
- Université de Tunis El-Manar, Faculté de Médecine de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Akbar Fotouhi
- Tehran University of Medical Sciences, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Tehran, Iran
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Patricia-Ann Laughrea
- Laval University, Department of Ophthalmology and Head and Neck Surgery, Quebec, Canada
| | - Fernando A Lopez
- Universidad Metropolitana para la Educación y el Trabajo, Centro de Innovación de los Trabajadores, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | | | | | | | - Nina A Noor
- JEC Eye Hospitals and Clinics, Jakarta, Indonesia
| | | | | | - Mufarriq Shah
- Pakistan Institute of Community Ophthalmology, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Department of Optometry, Peshawar, Pakistan
| | - Carol L Shields
- Wills Eye Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Ya Xing Wang
- Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Key Laboratory, Beijing, China
| | - Vasily Yartsev
- Scientific Research Institute of Eye Diseases, Moscow, Russia
| | - Frederic Mouriaux
- Univ Rennes, INSERM, INRA, CHU de Rennes, Institut NUMECAN (Nutrition Metabolisms and Cancer), Rennes, France.,Service d'ophtalmologie, CHU de Rennes, Rennes, France
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Bruijns SR, Banner M, Jacquet GA. Improving Publication Quality and Quantity for Acute Care Authors From Low- and Middle-Income Settings. Ann Emerg Med 2016; 69:462-468. [PMID: 27914720 DOI: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2016.09.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2016] [Revised: 08/29/2016] [Accepted: 09/01/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
STUDY OBJECTIVE Researchers from low- and middle-income countries have limited access to publishing and editing resources. This study describes a journal-initiated platform to improve publication quantity and quality in Sub-Saharan Africa emergency care research: Author Assist. METHODS This is a descriptive report of a quality improvement project of referrals to the African Journal of Emergency Medicine's (AfJEM's) Author Assist program between January 2011 and December 2015. After either pre- or post-peer review rejection, authors are matched to an experienced volunteer assistant to revise and resubmit their article in a process that blinds handling editors and reviewers, but not the editor in chief, to participation. Participant data were collected from an Author Assist coordination database and linked to Scopus (Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) and the journal's online submission platform. RESULTS Of the 47 articles referred for Author Assist, 12 (26%) were originally rejected in the pre-peer review stage and 35 (74%) after peer review. Twenty-eight (60%) authors offered Author Assist enrolled. Of the 14 resubmissions during the study period, 12 (86%) were accepted for publication. For comparison, 37 of 40 regular revisions (93%) (without assistance) were accepted for publication during the same period. CONCLUSION Author Assist reversed 1 in 4 rejection decisions through a process that unavoidably but minimally biases peer review. Of the few free publication-improvement services targeting researchers in low- and middle-income countries, AfJEM's Author Assist is the only journal-led initiative, and the only one specific to emergency medicine. To continue to refine the design of the program, we recommend further qualitative research exploring author decisions to pursue or forgo enrollment in Author Assist and research examining author and assistant experiences once enrolled.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Stevan R Bruijns
- Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
| | - Megan Banner
- Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
| | - Gabrielle A Jacquet
- Department of Emergency Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine and Boston University Center for Global Health and Development, Boston, MA
| |
Collapse
|