An analysis of Malawi's publication productivity.

BACKGROUND Publications productivity, the number of scientific articles published, is a measure of a country's scientific output. If measured carefully it can be a useful indicator that describes a countries' research activity. Our objective was to analyze trends in publications originating from Malawi between 1996-2006. METHODS The MEDLINE/PubMed database, a registry of articles from over 5,000 scientific journals was searched for articles originating from Malawi between 1996-2006 by typing Malawi in the author affiliation search field. A review of abstracts was performed to determine health field and origin of first author - Malawian vs foreign. RESULTS 506 articles were retrieved of which 489 were on health. 15.5% on TB, 14.5% on HIV and AIDS, 11.2% on infectious disease, 7.2% on TB and HIV, 7.2% on Malaria. 20.9% of the authors were of Malawian origin and Tropical Doctor was the journal that had the most articles originating from Malawi. The number of articles published from Malawi has grown by 106% in the past ten years. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest there is growth in scientific publishing in Malawi but the main contribution is from foreign researchers residing in Malawi. More needs to be done to promote publishing by Malawian authors.