Title
Rapid growth of biomedical research in Peru
Date Issued
01 July 2018
Access level
open access
Resource Type
letter
Author(s)
Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica
Publisher(s)
Elsevier Ltd
Start page
e728
End page
e729
Volume
6
Issue
7
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias de la salud
Ciencias socio biomédicas (planificación familiar, salud sexual, efectos políticos y sociales de la investigación biomédica)
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85048260135
PubMed ID
Source
The Lancet Global Health
ISSN of the container
2214109X
Sponsor(s)
From the list of the most published authors, we did focus interviews to learn about the researchers' training, links to UPCH, mentored relationships, long-term collaborations, and funding. 17 of the 20 most published authors were Peruvian; 15 of these authors had received some training at UPCH, and 13 had received some research training abroad. Many research projects dealt with topics relevant to Peru. These projects were initially focused on child health, and over time, expanded to include the most prevalent or locally important infectious diseases—eg, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections, cysticercosis, leishmaniasis, other parasitic diseases, and high-altitude conditions. The growth in publication numbers also followed the rapid expansion of grants from international funding agencies to Peru, with the US National Institutes of Health being the largest single funder (cited on 28% of publications), followed by the Wellcome Trust (5·2%), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2·3%). From this analysis, the government of Peru does not appear to have been a major funder of research, although changes in 2014 to leadership and funding for the Peruvian National Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation (CONCYTEC), might play a role in future research funding and publications. 2 Closer examination of coauthorships indicated the importance of mentoring; several older investigators were the mentors of successful younger mentees. Three international universities (Johns Hopkins University, MD, USA; the University of Washington, DC, USA; and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK) offered training to Peruvian doctoral and postdoctoral students, and maintained long-term and enduring relationships for research and training that allowed nationals to stay and do research in Peru.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus