An assessment of author affiliation in publications AWS
Is there geographical diversity of authors and affiliated institutes in European health journals? An assessment of author affiliation in publications Katilyn Wilkins 1, Tim Nguyen 2, Maike Voss 3, Claudia Stein 2 Affiliations: 1. Lund University, 2. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, 3. University of Bremen
Articles published by group 1 countries
ALBANIA 22 ANDORA 0 AUSTRIA 130 BELGIUM 734 BOSNIA AND …68 BULGARIA 36 CROATIA 506 CYPRUS 16 CZECH REPUBLIC 125 DENMARK 914 FINLAND 656 FRANCE 660 GERMANY 1208 GREECE 241 HUNGARY 110 ICELAND 44 IRELAND 237 ISRAEL 392 ITALY 732 LUXEMBURG 12 MALTA 6 MONACO 0 MONTENEGRO 2 NETHERLANDS 2306 NORWAY 961 POLAND 103 PORTUGAL 108 SAN MARINO 0 SERBIA 41 SLOVAKIA 98 SLOVENIA 104 SPAIN 868 SWEDEN 1676 SWITZERLAND 994 TURKEY 209 UNITED KINGDOM ROMANIA 15 THE FYR OF …0
10001
Background English remains the dominant language of scientific publications, however non-English speaking authors remain under represented in European health journals. This may create a barrier to access for non-native English speakers and for English speakers in accessing non-English local publications. In the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region, 16 of the 53 Member States have a population where Russian is spoken or where English became a language of international communication only recently. In academia, this literature remains largely invisible to the English speaking academic world, creating gaps in research knowledge. Aim This study examines first authors' addresses to assess publications from countries that have a population where Russian is spoken or where English became a language of international communication only recently in the WHO European Region.
Results, conclusions & next steps
Articles published by group 2 countries 72
Results
10
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4 1
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28
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Within the WHO European Region, a total of 24,886 articles were published between 2004 and 2014. Of these, the vast majority of articles were written by authors from Member States of the European Union and the European Free Trade Association (Group 1) published 23,737 (95.4%) articles. Authors from countries that have a population where Russian is spoken or where English became a language of international communication only recently (Group 2) were significantly under-represented: • 221 (0.9%) were published by Member States where Russian is spoken (Lithuania, Estonia being in both groups). • Countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States published 60, mainly from the Russian Federation (28), Ukraine (10) and Armenia (8). Even in the countries that form part of the European Union and the European Free Trade Association, the United Kingdom published 9,961 of the 24,886 articles, or roughly 40% of all articles published in the WHO European Region during the study period. The UK published 4.32 times as many articles as the next most productive country, the Netherlands.
Conclusions & Next Steps Only a few research papers from first authors from Group 2 countries are published in major European public health journals, although some authors with more than one affiliation may not have been detected. The United Kingdom was significantly more productive in publishing than any other country in the WHO European Regions, lending credence to the hypothesis that language may be a barrier to acceptance by journals and this could adversely affect dissemination of health knowledge. Provision of language support, articles with an abstract in another language used and bilingual journals may enhance information exchange. The new open access journal Public Health Panorama from the WHO Regional Office for Europe will address the last by accepting articles in both English and Russian.
Bilingual journal
Articles published by group 1 countries
ALBANIA 22 ANDORA 0 AUSTRIA 130 BELGIUM 734 BOSNIA AND …68 BULGARIA 36 CROATIA 506 CYPRUS 16 CZECH REPUBLIC 125 DENMARK 914 FINLAND 656 FRANCE 660 GERMANY 1208 GREECE 241 HUNGARY 110 ICELAND 44 IRELAND 237 ISRAEL 392 ITALY 732 LUXEMBURG 12 MALTA 6 MONACO 0 MONTENEGRO 2 NETHERLANDS 2306 NORWAY 961 POLAND 103 PORTUGAL 108 SAN MARINO 0 SERBIA 41 SLOVAKIA 98 SLOVENIA 104 SPAIN 868 SWEDEN 1676 SWITZERLAND 994 TURKEY 209 UNITED KINGDOM ROMANIA 15 THE FYR OF …0
10001
Background English remains the dominant language of scientific publications, however non-English speaking authors remain under represented in European health journals. This may create a barrier to access for non-native English speakers and for English speakers in accessing non-English local publications. In the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region, 16 of the 53 Member States have a population where Russian is spoken or where English became a language of international communication only recently. In academia, this literature remains largely invisible to the English speaking academic world, creating gaps in research knowledge. Aim This study examines first authors' addresses to assess publications from countries that have a population where Russian is spoken or where English became a language of international communication only recently in the WHO European Region.
Results, conclusions & next steps
Articles published by group 2 countries 72
Results
10
0
0
0
5
6
4 1
0
4
8
10
28
58
Within the WHO European Region, a total of 24,886 articles were published between 2004 and 2014. Of these, the vast majority of articles were written by authors from Member States of the European Union and the European Free Trade Association (Group 1) published 23,737 (95.4%) articles. Authors from countries that have a population where Russian is spoken or where English became a language of international communication only recently (Group 2) were significantly under-represented: • 221 (0.9%) were published by Member States where Russian is spoken (Lithuania, Estonia being in both groups). • Countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States published 60, mainly from the Russian Federation (28), Ukraine (10) and Armenia (8). Even in the countries that form part of the European Union and the European Free Trade Association, the United Kingdom published 9,961 of the 24,886 articles, or roughly 40% of all articles published in the WHO European Region during the study period. The UK published 4.32 times as many articles as the next most productive country, the Netherlands.
Conclusions & Next Steps Only a few research papers from first authors from Group 2 countries are published in major European public health journals, although some authors with more than one affiliation may not have been detected. The United Kingdom was significantly more productive in publishing than any other country in the WHO European Regions, lending credence to the hypothesis that language may be a barrier to acceptance by journals and this could adversely affect dissemination of health knowledge. Provision of language support, articles with an abstract in another language used and bilingual journals may enhance information exchange. The new open access journal Public Health Panorama from the WHO Regional Office for Europe will address the last by accepting articles in both English and Russian.
Bilingual journal
