Who Leads the Research? A Bibliometric Analysis of Authorship Equity in Ghana’s International Biomedical Research Collaborations, 2000–2025

Who Leads the Research? 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A Bibliometric Analysis of Authorship Equity in Ghana’s International Biomedical Research Collaborations, 2000–2025 Stefan Danquah This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9670965/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract International biomedical research collaboration in sub-Saharan Africa has expanded rapidly, but the distribution of authorship leadership remains unevenly understood at country level. A total of 21,203 internationally collaborative biomedical research papers involving at least one Ghana-affiliated author from 2000 to 2025 were analysed using OpenAlex metadata, generalized estimating equations with institutional clustering, descriptive decomposition, propensity-score stratification, and gradient-boosted prediction with SHAP interpretation. Under a combined Ghanaian and Dual-affiliated definition, first authorship was close to proportional to author-list representation (observed/expected ratio = 1.051); under a Ghanaian-only definition, first authorship was under-represented (O/E = 0.879). Last authorship was substantially under-represented under both definitions (combined O/E = 0.768; Ghanaian-only O/E = 0.726; both p < 0.001). Multi-bloc consortia were associated with markedly lower first-authorship odds (OR = 0.38, p < 0.001). Adjustment for team size attenuated the multi-bloc coefficient by 26% in this descriptive decomposition; the residual conditional association is not a measured construct and should not be interpreted as a direct measure of governance inequity. External funding was associated with lower last-authorship odds but not first authorship. Aggregate first-authorship trends showed little temporal improvement, whereas single-bloc partnerships improved, consistent with compositional masking; the single-bloc × year interaction was significant for first authorship but not for last. Within a sub-sample restricted to single-bloc collaborations whose partner countries belonged unambiguously to one partner type (N = 11,568), Emerging-power partnerships showed lower first-authorship odds than traditional Western partnerships (OR = 0.62, p = 0.012); this single-bloc-subset finding was driven primarily by Chinese collaborations and did not generalise to the full sample. Policy responses should therefore focus on senior authorship allocation, consortium governance, and disaggregated monitoring rather than collaboration volume alone. authorship equity bibliometrics global health Ghana international collaboration research leadership Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9670965","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":639118435,"identity":"b0d2ed26-c6a9-4a75-bd14-21dfe9f479f9","order_by":0,"name":"Stefan Danquah","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAvklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFCCBDDJww/hMROvRUaygVQtNgYHiNUi35787MHbNjse4+PHn0kwVFgnNhDSYnDmmbnh3LZkHrMzOWYSDGfSidAikWAmzdvGzGN2IIdNgrHtMGEt8jPSvwG11PMY9z9/JsH4jwgtDDdyQLYc5gFZJ8HYQIQWgzNvyiTnnDvOI3HjjbFFwrF0Y8IOa0/fJvGmrNqevz/94Y0PNdayhB0GAjwwRgJRylG0jIJRMApGwSjABgBPbzpMpFRXSAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Arizona State University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Stefan","middleName":"","lastName":"Danquah","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-05-10 14:40:09","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9670965/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9670965/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":109249610,"identity":"edb40012-b634-4469-88c1-bc4d982bfc64","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-14 08:57:31","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1910053,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"DanquahSrevised.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9670965/v1_covered_9569e91c-fb88-4b02-8e3f-3b1d128aa973.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Who Leads the Research? 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A total of 21,203 internationally collaborative biomedical research papers involving at least one Ghana-affiliated author from 2000 to 2025 were analysed using OpenAlex metadata, generalized estimating equations with institutional clustering, descriptive decomposition, propensity-score stratification, and gradient-boosted prediction with SHAP interpretation. Under a combined Ghanaian and Dual-affiliated definition, first authorship was close to proportional to author-list representation (observed/expected ratio = 1.051); under a Ghanaian-only definition, first authorship was under-represented (O/E = 0.879). Last authorship was substantially under-represented under both definitions (combined O/E = 0.768; Ghanaian-only O/E = 0.726; both p \u0026lt; 0.001). Multi-bloc consortia were associated with markedly lower first-authorship odds (OR = 0.38, p \u0026lt; 0.001). Adjustment for team size attenuated the multi-bloc coefficient by 26% in this descriptive decomposition; the residual conditional association is not a measured construct and should not be interpreted as a direct measure of governance inequity. External funding was associated with lower last-authorship odds but not first authorship. Aggregate first-authorship trends showed little temporal improvement, whereas single-bloc partnerships improved, consistent with compositional masking; the single-bloc × year interaction was significant for first authorship but not for last. Within a sub-sample restricted to single-bloc collaborations whose partner countries belonged unambiguously to one partner type (N = 11,568), Emerging-power partnerships showed lower first-authorship odds than traditional Western partnerships (OR = 0.62, p = 0.012); this single-bloc-subset finding was driven primarily by Chinese collaborations and did not generalise to the full sample. 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