Data sharing considerations and practice among health researchers in Africa: A scoping review

Abstract

Objective To examine the way African health researchers share data. It summarized the types of data collected, the data sharing platforms, and how the geographical distribution of the African-based health researchers influenced data sharing practices. Ethical, legal, and social aspects were considered. Institutional and government matters such as research support and funding were identified. Methods PubMed, Web of Science, LILAC, African Journal Archive, and Scopus databases were searched. Full-text screening was conducted, and data was extracted using the data extraction tool published in an a priori Joanna Briggs Institute-published protocol. Discrepancies were resolved by consensus. Data were illustrated using a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses flow diagram, figures, tables, and a narrative text. Results Of the 3869 studies that were identified, 32 studies were included in the final study. There was a spike in the number of published studies from 2015 to 2019 ( n = 24, 75.0%), while a decline followed in the number of publications from 2020 to April 2023 ( n = 6, 18.8%). Ten of the studies included were from South Africa, five were from Kenya, three each were from Nigeria and Tanzania, two were from Ghana and Sierra Leone respectively, while one each was from Malawi, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Mali, Gambia, Senegal, and Burkina Faso. Negative factors impacting data sharing practices of health researchers in Africa included barriers to individual research capacity, governmental bureaucracy and corruption, legal obstacles, technological problems, prohibitive costs of publication, lack of funding, institutional delays, and ethical issues. Conclusion This review identified how African health researchers undertook data sharing in their countries. It pinpointed how geographical location and the resultant challenges to data distribution both individually and institutionally influenced health researchers’ ability to achieve data sharing and publication of their research. It was clear that many parts of Africa are still not participating in research due to the many factors that negatively impact health data sharing in Africa.