J Med Libr Assoc. 2022 Jan 1;110(1):72-80. doi: 10.5195/jmla.2022.1249.
This study investigated the contributions of library and information science (LIS) professionals to systematic reviews and meta-analyses with authors from Sub-Saharan Africa. It also investigated how the first author's address and type of collaboration affected the involvement of LIS professionals in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
Bibliographic data of systematic reviews with author(s) from the forty-six Sub-Saharan African countries was retrieved from MEDLINE. Content and bibliometric analyses were performed on the systematic reviews' full-texts and bibliographic data, respectively, to identify the contributions of LIS professionals and collaboration patterns.
Beyond traditional roles as search strategy developers and searchers, the LIS professionals participated in article retrieval, database selection, reference management, draft review, review conceptualization, manuscript writing, technical support, article screening and selection, data extraction, abstract review, and training/teaching. Of the 2,539 publications, LIS professionals were mentioned in 472 publications. LIS professionals from only seven of the forty-six Sub-Saharan African countries were noted to have contributed. LIS professionals from South Africa were mentioned most frequently-five times more than those from other Sub-Saharan African countries. LIS professionals from Sub-Saharan Africa mostly contributed to publications with first authors from Sub-Saharan Africa (90.20%) and intra-Sub-Saharan African collaboration (61.66%). Most LIS professionals (97.91%) that contributed to international collaboration publications were from outside Sub-Saharan Africa.
The contribution of LIS professionals in Sub-Saharan Africa to evidence-based biomedical research can improve through training, mentoring, and collaboration between LIS associations in Sub-Saharan Africa and those in countries with resources and a history of research collaboration with the region.
本研究调查了来自撒哈拉以南非洲地区的作者的图书馆和信息科学（LIS）专业人员对系统评价和荟萃分析的贡献。它还调查了第一作者的地址和合作类型如何影响 LIS 专业人员参与系统评价和荟萃分析。
从 MEDLINE 中检索了来自撒哈拉以南非洲 46 个国家的作者的系统评价书目数据。对系统评价全文和书目数据分别进行内容和计量分析，以确定 LIS 专业人员的贡献和合作模式。
除了作为搜索策略开发者和搜索者的传统角色外，LIS 专业人员还参与了文章检索、数据库选择、参考管理、草稿审查、审查概念化、手稿撰写、技术支持、文章筛选和选择、数据提取、摘要审查和培训/教学。在 2539 篇出版物中，有 472 篇出版物提到了 LIS 专业人员。只有 46 个撒哈拉以南非洲国家中的七个国家的 LIS 专业人员被记录为有贡献。来自南非的 LIS 专业人员被提及的次数最多——是其他撒哈拉以南非洲国家的五倍。来自撒哈拉以南非洲的 LIS 专业人员主要为来自撒哈拉以南非洲的第一作者的出版物（90.20%）和撒哈拉以南非洲内部合作（61.66%）做出贡献。对国际合作出版物做出贡献的大多数 LIS 专业人员（97.91%）来自撒哈拉以南非洲以外的地区。
通过撒哈拉以南非洲的 LIS 协会与那些拥有资源并与该地区有研究合作历史的国家的 LIS 协会之间的培训、指导和合作，可以提高撒哈拉以南非洲地区 LIS 专业人员在循证生物医学研究中的贡献。
