IADR Abstract Archives
Bridging Inequalities in Publishing Global Oral Health Research
Objectives: The complex process of Manuscript (MS) publishing requires experienced teamwork and, often, financial support to cover publication costs that are not readily available for low- and middle-income countries’ (LMIC) researchers. Efforts to decrease existing inequalities in publication of scientific research in oral health should target LMICs junior researchers. The overarching goal of the virtual "Decreasing inequalities in global oral health: Let's publish your thesis!” training course was to provide skills, competencies and financial support to postgraduate oral health professionals in Kenya, on MS writing. The specific objective was to translate the knowledge from their voluminous theses into MS suitable for publication in high impact scientific journals.
Methods: Methods: A two-months (2021) MS writing training was provided to recently graduated oral health professionals from University of Nairobi (UoN; 5 students) and Moi University (MU; 5 students) in Kenya. Prior to the didactic sessions, a 23-item questionnaire on the scholarly publishing ecosystem was administered to trainees’ to assess knowledge on MS writing. The training had weekly one-hour didactic sessions and two-hour weekly hands-on sessions encompassing group discussions.
Results: Ten trainees (70% female, 30% male) aged 36 to 55 from six different oral health specialities participated. Trainees indicated need for technical support in writing up the results section (40%) and critical editing (30%). Additional barriers to MS publishing included: not belonging to a research group (40%), unstimulating environment (30%), and excessive cost (20%). Those who had published took anywhere from a few months to 2 years to complete the MS, with trainees noting the Methods (40%) and Discussion (40%) sections as the hardest sections and Introduction the easiest to write.
Conclusions: Investing in junior oral health researchers writing skills for publication of theses MS may help mitigate the existing inequalities in authorship publications among LMIC researchers.
Methods: Methods: A two-months (2021) MS writing training was provided to recently graduated oral health professionals from University of Nairobi (UoN; 5 students) and Moi University (MU; 5 students) in Kenya. Prior to the didactic sessions, a 23-item questionnaire on the scholarly publishing ecosystem was administered to trainees’ to assess knowledge on MS writing. The training had weekly one-hour didactic sessions and two-hour weekly hands-on sessions encompassing group discussions.
Results: Ten trainees (70% female, 30% male) aged 36 to 55 from six different oral health specialities participated. Trainees indicated need for technical support in writing up the results section (40%) and critical editing (30%). Additional barriers to MS publishing included: not belonging to a research group (40%), unstimulating environment (30%), and excessive cost (20%). Those who had published took anywhere from a few months to 2 years to complete the MS, with trainees noting the Methods (40%) and Discussion (40%) sections as the hardest sections and Introduction the easiest to write.
Conclusions: Investing in junior oral health researchers writing skills for publication of theses MS may help mitigate the existing inequalities in authorship publications among LMIC researchers.