Unequal Flows? Economic Dimensions of Sharing Anonymized Data in Biomedical Research

Anonymization provides a key mechanism for enabling the sharing and reuse of health data across national borders. In our work we investigate whether countries with different income levels benefit equally from sharing anonymized data. Drawing on a systematic review of 1,084 biomedical research articles published between 2018 and 2022, we examined the distribution of anonymized data use, cross-border data flows, and research focus by income group. Our findings show that 92.2% of anonymized datasets originate from high-income countries and are predominantly used by researchers within the same group. Cross-border data sharing occurs almost exclusively toward high-income countries. When using data from less wealthy regions, researchers from high-income countries mainly focus on disease areas that are especially prevalent in the populations where the data was generated. To reduce disparities, the development of shared standards for anonymization and data sharing should actively involve nations from all income groups and account for varying contexts and resources.