title: International scientific collaboration in HIV and HPV: a network analysis.
abstract: Research endeavours require the collaborative effort of an increasing number of individuals. International scientific collaborations are particularly important for HIV and HPV co-infection studies, since the burden of disease is rising in developing countries, but most experts and research funds are found in developed countries, where the prevalence of HIV is low. The objective of our study was to investigate patterns of international scientific collaboration in HIV and HPV research using social network analysis. Through a systematic review of the literature, we obtained epidemiological data, as well as data on countries and authors involved in co-infection studies. The collaboration network was analysed in respect to the following: centrality, density, modularity, connected components, distance, clustering and spectral clustering. We observed that for many low- and middle-income countries there were no epidemiological estimates of HPV infection of the cervix among HIV-infected individuals. Most studies found only involved researchers from the same country (64%). Studies derived from international collaborations including high-income countries and either low- or middle-income countries had on average three times larger sample sizes than those including only high-income countries or low-income countries. The high global clustering coefficient (0.9) coupled with a short average distance between researchers (4.34) suggests a "small-world phenomenon." Researchers from high-income countries seem to have higher degree centrality and tend to cluster together in densely connected communities. We found a large well-connected community, which encompasses 70% of researchers, and 49 other small isolated communities. Our findings suggest that in the field of HIV and HPV, there seems to be both room and incentives for researchers to engage in collaborations between countries of different income-level. Through international collaboration resources available to researchers in high-income countries can be efficiently used to enroll more participants in low- and middle-income countries.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Science and Technology in Translational Medicine, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Tazio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vanni
authors.affiliation: Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mesa-Frias
authors.affiliation: Mathematical Sciences, University of Southhampton, Southhampton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ruben
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Garcia
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Science and Technology in Translational Medicine, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Laboratory of Neuropharmacology and Neural Tumor Biology, Department of Pharmacology, Institute for Basic Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Cancer Research Laboratory, University Hospital Research Center (CPE-HCPA), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roesler
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Science and Technology in Translational Medicine, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Cancer Research Laboratory, University Hospital Research Center (CPE-HCPA), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gilberto
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schwartsmann
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina e Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcelo Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Goldani
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Science and Technology in Translational Medicine, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Social and Mathematical Epidemiology Research Group, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom; Visitor to the Academic Unit of Primary Care and Population Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Anna M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Foss
mesh_terms: D060085:Coinfection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D019049:Developed Countries; D003906:Developing Countries; D006678:HIV; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D027383:Papillomaviridae; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012108:Research Personnel; D012923:Social Class