Inequalities in COVID-19 inequalities research: Who had the capacity to respond?
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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has been testing countries’ capacities and scientific preparedness to actively respond and collaborate on a common global threat. It has also heightened awareness of the urgent need to empirically describe and analyze health inequalities to be able to act effectively. In turn, this raises several important questions that need answering: What is known about the rapidly emerging COVID-19 inequalities research field? Which countries and world regions have been able to rapidly produce research on this topic? What research patterns and trends have emerged, and how to these compared to the (pre-COVID-19) global health inequalities research field? Which countries have been scientifically collaborating on this important topic? Where are the scientific knowledge gaps, and indirectly where might research capacities need to be strengthened? In order to answer these queries, we analyzed the global scientific production (2020–2021) on COVID-19 associated inequalities by conducting bibliometric and network analyses using the Scopus database. Specifically, we analyzed the volume of scientific production per country (via author affiliations), its distribution by country income groups and world regions, as well as the inter-country collaborations within this production. Our results indicate that the COVID-19 inequalities research field has been highly collaborative; however, a number of significant inequitable research practices exist. When compared to the (pre-COVID-19) global health inequalities research field, similar inequalities were identified, however, several new dynamics and partnerships have also emerged that warrant further in-depth exploration. To ensure preparedness for future crises, and effective strategies to tackle growing social inequalities in health, investment in global health inequalities research capacities must be a priority for all.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2021.09.27.21264156: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources The analysis was performed using Python. Pythonsuggested: (IPython, RRID:SCR_001658)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:In terms of study limitations, while our results are based only on empirical articles published in international academic journals, they provide a useful overview of the global dynamic and patterns within this newly emerging scientific …
SciScore for 10.1101/2021.09.27.21264156: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources The analysis was performed using Python. Pythonsuggested: (IPython, RRID:SCR_001658)Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:In terms of study limitations, while our results are based only on empirical articles published in international academic journals, they provide a useful overview of the global dynamic and patterns within this newly emerging scientific field, and pose many interesting research questions that require further exploration. Further research is needed to expand on these findings, to establish more in depth understanding of why and how these trends and outcomes might have occurred, as well as the type of COVID-19 inequalities research that has been produced in different countries (3), as this may indicate priority areas for action. In addition, it would be important to assess the relationship between productivity research rates by country and other variables of interest, such as the share of the GDP invested in research and development, to further explore the determinants of these research capacities. Collectively, what is clear is the need for every country to develop stronger capacity to collect timely, reliable, disaggregated by different social groups (e.g. social class, age, gender, ethnicity/race, geography), to establish comprehensive COVID-19 data collection systems to be able to report and monitor on health inequalities (3, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20). In addition, ethical principles must be instilled in future research collaborations to ensure more equitable partnerships (12, 21, 22). Conducting rapid, and comprehensive COVID-19 inequalities analyses can assist to produce vit...
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We found bar graphs of continuous data. We recommend replacing bar graphs with more informative graphics, as many different datasets can lead to the same bar graph. The actual data may suggest different conclusions from the summary statistics. For more information, please see Weissgerber et al (2015).
Results from JetFighter: Please consider improving the rainbow (“jet”) colormap(s) used on pages 16 and 6. At least one figure is not accessible to readers with colorblindness and/or is not true to the data, i.e. not perceptually uniform.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
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