Box 1 : Recommendations to promote GS health research leadership
To governments, national research bodies and donors in the GS • Establish country-specific models to generate resources to support national research • Strengthen in-country capacity by increasing spending to support institutional research programme-building and postgraduate research training [94, 95] • Promote the retention of researchers through creation of research career pathways, availing career development opportunities and providing competitive salaries for researchers [50, 96] • Encourage return of researchers undertaking advanced research training in GN institutions • Protect academic freedom • Implement a reward system for publication [97] and for research translation activities • Build political will and recognize the value of GS health research [58] • Implement and support strengthening of a national health research system [62] To research institutions in the GS • Simultaneously drive research and teaching agendas • Encourage diverse partnerships and networks between researchers and disciplines in the same university, nationally, regionally and internationally and implement a coordination framework to ensure sustainability [54] • Create an enabling environment for conducting research and innovation, which may include providing necessary physical, human and financial resources • Establish mentorship programs and standards for mentorship and scientific development [11], and provide sufficient and sustainable research training and mentoring opportunities [93] • Incorporate research leadership capacity development into institutional strategic plans • Identify and address barriers related to institutional policies, procedures or cultures • Cultivate both research leadership and leadership in research management [17, 58] To global health and research governance partners • Establish indicators to monitor GS research leadership, including capacity and funding flow to GS investigators and institutions. • Consider drafting a “Grand Bargain” for research leadership and encourage signatories to commit to strengthening research localization. • Promote equitable partnership models and culturally sensitive guidelines for GN–GS collaboration. To research funders • Fund and create more doctoral and postdoctoral research education opportunities in the GS for promising researchers from the GS • Earmark specific funding to GS countries for research leadership capacity development activities and track the impact of such funding [98] • Ensure sufficient funding of overhead costs for GS partner institutions, and incorporate support for fiscal and administrative capacity-building [68] and to support physical infrastructures [96] • Encourage and incentivize equitable GS–GS partnerships and networks [50, 96] • Coordinate with other donors [95] To research institutions in the GN • Ensure that GS health research leadership capacity strengthening, with priorities defined locally, is a priori an integral component of any international research collaboration involving GS researchers and institutions • Recognize the value of capacity exchange, and respect the knowledge and expertise of GS partners • Commit to equitable roles and responsibilities among GN and GS partners in international collaborative research projects • Consider the role that diaspora researchers may play in helping bridge the GN–GS divide To international/global health journals • Improve GS representation on editorial boards towards a 50–50 GN–GS balance • Establish regional editorial offices in the GS [43] which are run in partnership with local institutions in order to ensure sustainability • Actively commission work from GS countries [43] • Devote space regularly to promote GS health research leadership • Waive publication charges for authors from the GS, particularly low- and low-middle income countries [99] • Provide editorial support to researchers who are not native English speakers • Support editors of GS journals to improve quality of publications and increase visibility of research from the GS |