Health research in the Commonwealth Caribbean

Health research and the dissemination of its findings are important to healthcare development. It is therefore useful to monitor the productivity of scientists and to examine the difficulties which affect their ability to conduct and publish research findings. This study aimed to examine these factors in six Caribbean countries. Health researchers published two or more papers in referred professional journals between 1987 and 1990 were interviewed to determine area of research, number of publications an research constraints. In those four years, 427 first authored article were published by those interviewed. University of the West Indies (UWI) researchers in the three campus territories published most of the articles, with little research being done in noncampus territories. Of seven priority areas defined by Caribbean Health Ministers, most researches were interested in chronic diseases, maternal and child health, followed by nutrition and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). There was not much research on human resource development and strengthening of health care systems. Major constraints to research were lack of resources including funding, time, staff and equipment. Despite this, only 54 percent had applied for funding. There were few posts for research at the UWI. Notwithstanding these constraints, researchers were conducting several projects simultaneously and were involved with more projects that would be expected from the number of publications. Many expressed the need for experienced advice and assistance in writing protocols and analysing data. At the UWI it might be helpful to appoint a senior person or group in each department with specific responsibility for promoting research.(AU)

Medical research at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, UWI, Mona Campus, 1960-1990

The objective of this study was to evaluate research output in relation to undergraduate teaching output of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Mona Campus, University of the West Indies between 1960 and 1990. The Departmental Reports published by the University of the West Indies were examined using a successive independent sample design with sentinel years at ten-year intervals for the 30-years period under review. The numbers of reported peer-reviewed publications for each department were disaggregated and analysed. Ten of the fourteen departments (10/14, 72 percent) of the Mona Faculty showed a decline in output of peer-reviewed publications of up to 100 percent between 1960 nad 1990 (p < 0.001). The number of academic staff had risen from 41 in 1960 to 143 in 1990 (249 percent) while the publication/staff ratio had fallen from 1.73 in 1960 to 0.48 in 1990 (p < 0.0001). Student/staff ratios had declined significantly over the 30 year period (p < 0.005) as had the graduate/staff ratio (p < 0.01). The Faculty reports indicated that the research-in-progress reported far exceeded the actual publication rate in 1990, whereas the opposite was the case in 1960. There was a statistically significant decline in the number of international conference abstracts published and an increase in the number of regional conference abstracts (p < 0.01) and also a significant decrease in the number of papers presented at conference compared with the number of conferences attended without a paper presented (p < 0.0001). The research publication record and the medical graduate/staff of the Mona Faculty had declined significantly over the 30 years under review. There was also a significant decline in the graduate/staff in the same period. Some of the conventional reasons give for this decline such as staff shortages and increased clinical service or teaching load was discussed.(AU)

Publications from the Caribbean in the health sciences

The investigation reported here examined scientific publications from Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago over the period 1976-1990. Its purpose was to provide new information about Caribbean research in the health field through assessment of published works. To this end a broad array of journal subject categories was examined using SCISEARCH, an international index of medical and scientific literature. In all, 1,712 titles (articles