Cleft Lip and Palate Publishing Trends From Authors in Low- and Middle-Income Countries in Cleft and Craniofacial...

ObjectiveWe strive to analyze Cleft Lip and Palate repair (CLP) from low-and-middle income countries (LMICs) and understand authorship patterns between different countries.DesignFive high-impact journals were selected for analysis from 2008 to 2024. Articles were initially screened to determine if the study focused on a LMIC according to the World Health Organization and if the study's subject was CLP.SettingOur study involved reviewing papers from multiple levels of clinical care.Patients, ParticipantsWe categorized the selected studies by their stated diagnoses (cleft lip, cleft palate, CLP, velopharyngeal insufficiency, and other).InterventionsSpecific interventions were not recorded due to the nature of the study.Main Outcome Measure(s)Nationality and gender of first author, nationality and gender of senior author, and country income status (based on World Health Organization classification).ResultsMost first authors were male (54%) and from upper-middle-income countries (69%). Kappa scores showed significant agreement for country income classification and the income classification of the country of the first author (K = 0.779, P < .01). There was minimal change in the representation of LMICs over the study's time period (b = -0.0017, SE = 0.008, P = .8429). There were 9 low-income country articles but only 1 (11%) had first author from the represented country.ConclusionsOverall, authors from middle-income countries are well-represented in CLP articles from their countries, but not the case for low-income country authors. Continued scrutiny of equitable publication should be conducted as low-income countries continue to be underrepresented in the literature.