Assessing Geographic Diversity in Systematic Reviews: A 3D Interactive Approach Using Cochrane SRs in IPF.

Abstract

The Systematic reviews (SRs) for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) play a crucial role in guiding evidence-based healthcare by synthesizing data across multiple studies. A key factor in ensuring the reliability and applicability of these reviews is the geographic diversity of the authors involved, as this can significantly influence the generalizability of findings. Traditional 2D maps used to visualize author locations often fall short in capturing the depth and regional disparities effectively, as overlapping points or dense clusters can obscure critical details, resulting in an incomplete view of geographic distribution. To address these limitations, this study introduces a novel approach that combines a 3D geographic map and a Temporal-Spatial Graph Attention Network (TS-GAT) to assess and visualize the geographic diversity of authors in SRs on IPF. The 3D visualization provides an enhanced, layered representation of author locations, revealing hidden regional disparities and biases. The TS-GAT captures both temporal and spatial relationships in the author collaboration network, allowing for deeper insights into the evolution of geographic representation over time. This integrated approach aims to uncover potential biases in global representation, offering a comprehensive understanding of the geographic spread and temporal trends in authorship within SRs, ultimately contributing to more balanced and inclusive evidence synthesis.