School of Information Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
Center for Science, Technology & Education Assessment (CSTEA), Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
Health Res Policy Syst. 2022 Aug 13;20(1):89. doi: 10.1186/s12961-022-00889-0.
Academic research is one of the main avenues through which humans can fight the threat of infectious diseases. However, there have been concerns regarding whether the academic system has provided sufficient efforts to fight infectious diseases we potentially face. Answering these questions could contribute to evidence-based recommendations for setting research priorities and third-mission policies.
With a focus on one of the most common categories of communicable diseases, infectious and parasitic diseases (IPDs), we searched Web of Science for articles and reviews relevant to IPDs published during the period 2000-2019 and retrieved WHO data on disease burden in corresponding years. The academic response patterns were explored by IPD subcategory and by human development level (an index established by the United Nations). We conduct the analysis in particular to gain insight into the dynamic relationship between disease burden and research effort on IPDs, scientific efforts contributed by countries with different development levels, and the variation trends in international joint efforts.
The greatest burden of IPDs is clustered in the developing regions of Africa, but has received academic response from both developed and developing countries. Highly developed countries dominate the ranks of academic research in this area, yet there is also a clear increase in research efforts from the countries most affected, despite their low human development scale. In fact, the overall analysis reveals an improved capability for addressing local problems from African regions. In terms of international collaboration, highly developed countries such as the United States and United Kingdom have commonly collaborated with needy regions, whereas prolific but developing nations, like China, have not.
From a global perspective, academia has positively responded to health needs caused by IPDs. Although the relevant research output contribution is primarily from the highly developed countries, concentrated and specialized efforts from the undeveloped regions to ease their local burden can be clearly observed. Our findings also indicate a tendency to focus more on local health needs for both developed and undeveloped regions. The insights revealed in this study should benefit a more informed and systemic plan of research priorities.
学术研究是人类应对传染病威胁的主要途径之一。然而，人们一直担心学术体系是否为我们可能面临的传染病提供了足够的应对努力。回答这些问题有助于为制定研究优先事项和第三使命政策提供循证建议。
我们专注于最常见的传染病类别之一，即感染性和寄生虫病（IPD），在 Web of Science 上搜索了 2000 年至 2019 年期间发表的与 IPD 相关的文章和综述，并检索了世界卫生组织（WHO）在相应年份的疾病负担数据。我们通过 IPD 亚类和人类发展水平（联合国建立的一个指数）来探索学术应对模式。我们特别进行了分析，以深入了解疾病负担与 IPD 研究努力之间的动态关系、不同发展水平国家的科学贡献，以及国际联合努力的变化趋势。
IPD 的最大负担集中在非洲的发展中地区，但得到了发达国家和发展中国家的学术回应。高度发达的国家在这一领域的学术研究中占据主导地位，但受影响最严重的国家的研究努力也明显增加，尽管它们的人类发展水平较低。事实上，总体分析显示，非洲地区解决当地问题的能力有所提高。在国际合作方面，美国和英国等高度发达国家通常与有需要的地区合作，而中国等富有但发展中 的国家则没有。
从全球角度来看，学术界对 IPD 引起的卫生需求做出了积极回应。虽然相关研究成果的贡献主要来自高度发达的国家，但可以明显观察到欠发达地区集中和专门努力减轻其当地负担。我们的研究结果还表明，发达和欠发达地区都有倾向于更加关注当地的卫生需求。本研究揭示的见解应有助于制定更明智和系统的研究优先事项计划。
