Health research capacity in Nepal: Analysis of the trend and the role of local researchers

Abstract

Evidence-based decision-making is less common in low- and middle-income countries where the research capacity remains low. Nepal, a lower-middle-income country in Asia, is not an exception. We conducted a rapid review to identify the trend of health research in Nepal and found more than seven-fold increase in the number of published health-related articles between 2000 and 2018. The proportion of articles with Nepalese researchers as the first authors has also risen over the years, though they are still only in two-thirds of the articles in 2018.

How international are the editorial boards in the field of hand research? A cross-sectional study of leading subspecialty hand journals

“…This may play a negative role to the submission from LMIC [ 24 , 37 , 38 ]. Active involvement of local researchers throughout the research process is essential as they often have a deeper understanding of the local context and needs [ 43 ]. Additionally, they are better positioned to advocate for implementing the research findings [ 44 ].…”

“…Consequently, the scarcity of publications from LMIC researchers can lead to reduced research activity focused on diseases predominantly affecting LMIC populations [ 14 , 23 , 24 , 37 , 38 , 40 ]. It is imperative to undertake efforts aimed at strengthening health research capacity in LMIC and addressing the inadequate representation of LMIC researchers in the editorial boards of hand journals [ 43 , 44 ]. The present study also revealed that when considering the membership of EBMs from LMIC standardized by their large populations, the relative percentage of LMIC representation appears significantly smaller [ 23 , 24 ].…”