Can Tanzanian Neurosurgeons Access Tanzanian Neurosurgical Literature? A Systematic Review and Survey of Neurosurgical Publications.

Background and objectives: Free and open access to research data and findings promotes equity in access to healthcare knowledge and equity in patient care and treatment. To benefit the health care of the population studied, research findings must be accessible to clinicians, academics, and policymakers serving those populations. The aim of this study was to assess the extent of published Tanzanian neurosurgical data and its accessibility to those practicing within the country.

Methods: A systematic review of all published neurosurgical studies from Tanzania was conducted. Authorship, funding, and open-access status were recorded. Tanzanian neurosurgeons were surveyed by telephone or in person about their methods of accessing literature.

Results: We identified 96 Tanzanian neurosurgical studies published in 42 journals between 1982 and 2023 with an exponentially increasing number of publications per year. Fifty-nine studies (62%) are available open access at the publisher. Open access publication is associated with Tanzanian first authorship (odds ratio = 2.6, 95% CI: 1.0-6.8) or last authorship (odds ratio = 2.7, 95% CI: 1.0-7.1). However, overall only 34 of 96 studies (35%) had Tanzanian first authors and 32 of 96 (33%) had Tanzanian last authors. We contacted 26 of 27 neurosurgeons working in Tanzania. None had in-country institutional library service access. One used a research initiative login to access neurosurgical literature, and 2 used institutional logins from outside Tanzania. Ten neurosurgeons (38%) reported alternative methods of accessing literature behind a paywall such as Sci-Hub or direct contact with authors. These methods could have given access to all but 9 of 96 neurosurgical studies (9%).

Conclusion: Only 62% of Tanzanian neurosurgical literature is easily freely accessible to Tanzanian neurosurgeons, and 9% of all Tanzanian neurosurgical literature is extremely challenging to access for neurosurgeons working in Tanzania. Expanding open-access publishing, repositories, and publisher and institutional initiatives for equitable data and publication access are crucial for improving access to local data to improve patient care.