Forbes: Global Health Research Needs More Than A Makeover
Madhukar Pai, Canada Research Chair of Epidemiology & Global Health at McGill University and director of the McGill International Tuberculosis Centre

“…Research shows that global health is still struggling to shed its colonial past. This is reflected in who drives the research agenda, who dominates authorship, and who edits the research. … [E]ven when research is done collaboratively, there are issues with authorship and inclusion. … Since editors act as gatekeepers, who edits research matters a lot. In a recent study, we examined the composition of editors and editorial board members of 12 major global health journals to examine diversity and inclusion. Across all journals, only a third of editors were female, and a third were based in LMICs. … Given these findings, it is easy to understand why research papers from LMICs, written entirely by local experts, rarely get published in high-impact journals. … Some of the concerns (e.g. editorial board diversity) can be addressed quickly. Indeed, some journals (e.g. Lancet Global Health, BMJ Global Health) have already pledged to achieve parity in gender and representation of LMIC expertise. I hope other global health journals will follow suit…” (11/10).