'To the best of our knowledge, this is the first systematic review that provides an up-to-date synthesis of the current evidence identifying barriers and facilitators to accessing scholarly literature among medical and nursing professionals and students in LMICs' say the authors of this new paper. 'With the growing popularity of open access publishing, coupled with initiatives such as HINARI, and the widespread use of the internet throughout LMICs, it is expected that access to scholarly literature would have improved. However, it appears this is not the case because there is limited evidence regarding the access and utilisation of scholarly literature in LMICs.' Citation, abstract and comment from me below.
CITATION: Challenges and possible solutions for accessing scholarly literature among medical and nursing professionals and students in low-and-middle income countries: A systematic review.
Mengying Zhang, Lawrence Doi, Joshua Awua, Hayford Asare, Rosie Stenhouse.
Nurse Educ Today. 2023 Jan 27. pii: S0260-6917(23)00031-X. [Epub ahead of print]123 105737
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2023.105737
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Access to high quality research literature is essential for educating nursing and healthcare students to promote evidence-based practice. Within Low- and Middle-Income countries (LMICs) access is limited due to financial and structural constraints within countries and institutions. Reduced access to research literature limits the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals through its impact on the education of healthcare staff and on the development of contextually appropriate evidence for practice.
OBJECTIVE: To identify the challenges and possible solutions for accessing scholarly literature among medical and nursing professionals and students in low-and-middle income countries.
DESIGN: Systematic review.
DATA SOURCES: Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, CINAHL PLUS, ERIC, ASSIA, EMBASE, and Google Scholar.
REVIEW METHODS: Five bibliography databases were searched using relevant search terms, from January 2002 to July 2022. Additional searches were carried out in Google Scholar. Titles, abstracts, and full texts were independently screened by at least two authors, based on predefined eligibility criteria. Pertinent data were extracted from included studies, and critical appraisal was undertaken. Data were analysed and presented in a narrative approach.
RESULTS: Five papers met the inclusion criteria and were included. Three aspects of challenges at different levels emerged: infrastructure and institutional level factors, individual factors, and lack of contextually appropriate evidence. Three solutions were identified: capacity development opportunities, improving Internet access, and increasing awareness of free resources.
CONCLUSION: This review provides an overview of common barriers medical and nursing professionals and students encounter whilst accessing scholarly literature in LMICs and identifies some possible solutions to address them. The findings can be used to guide institutions, as well as national and international decision makers to elicit policy which can promote the uptake of research in LMICs. Further research should focus on how these solutions could be harnessed to address the problems identified in this review.
COMMENT: I have not had a chance to review this paepr in detail but I doubt that things have not improved at all, as the authors suggest. Both open access and Hinari have surely made a substantial difference, as indicated by published reports of Hinari. There probably remains a relatively low awareness of some resources. One of the studies in this review (2011) found that '75% of participants were not aware that they could use digital databases, such as MEDLINE and HINARI'. The numbers should be better in 2023.
Are HIFA members aware of other recent research on this topic? Please share with us by sending an email to: hifa@hifaforums.org
Many thanks, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
