Authorship Analysis of Studies on Simulation-based Education in Low and Middle-income Countries

Growing emphasis has been placed on the importance of local authorship in research from low and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study aimed to investigate local authorship of simulation-based education research conducted in LMICs through an in-depth authorship analysis of publications retrieved from a systematic review. After retrieving 27,738 records, 97 studies from 50 LMICs were included. The median number of authors was 8, ranging was from 2 to 18. Ninety-three studies (95%) included a local author, and local authors composed 145/291 (49%) of the total first, second, or final (FSF) authorship positions. Although there was a substantial increase in the number of published studies, there were no significant changes to the proportion of local FSF authors over time: 44% in 2002-2006; 63% in 2007-2011; 47% in 2012-2016; and 49% in 2017-2022 (P = 0.45). The representation of local FSF authors is lower compared with other fields, though this may be reflective of including only studies that conducted high-level evaluation, or the fact that simulation is a relatively new field. Simulation researchers should actively support and include local authors to ensure programs are appropriate, contextualized and impactful, while making concerted efforts to develop local research capacity in LMICs.