Publications de chirurgie orale et maxillo-faciale dans les pays à ressources limitées en Afrique sub-saharienne : revue de la littérature.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the subjects and content of publications produced by oral and maxillofacial surgeons practicing daily in less resourced countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). 

Materials and methods: We used two databases, PubMed and African online journals, for this literature review. We limited our research to the years 2000-2022. We have chosen the articles with the abstract and only in English or French. For each article we looked for the country of origin, the language of the article, the accessibility of the articles; the name of the newspaper, the number and type of illustrations. For each open access article, we looked for the method of payment for publication and the assignment of copyright. We found 1761 articles and finally retained 47 articles.

Results: Publications from SSA countries are very rare among all publications from the African continent (47/1761= 2.6%). All selected articles were published in 33 different newspapers. 46.8% of articles were written by authors from Tanzania and Sudan. Open access articles represent the majority of published articles (59%). Closed access articles are related to Noma and articles in French. We identified only two scientific journals, African Health Sciences and South Sudan Medical Journal, which were free to readers and authors. The English language was predominant (85%). 53 images were freely accessible to illustrate all the subjects of oral and maxillofacial surgery in SSA countries. We also presented the conclusions of the articles by classifying them by subject: 1) Tumors (13 articles), 2) Traumas/maxillofacial fractures (11 articles), 3) Clefts (4 articles), 4) Infectious diseases (5 articles), 5) Cultural practices (4 articles), 6) Noma (2 articles), 7) Syndromes (5 articles), and miscellaneous subjects (3 articles).

Conclusions: We presented the system of current scientific publications, the place of scientific publications and the particular aspects of publications on maxillofacial surgery in SSA countries, we proposed possible directions of publication for authors maxillofacial surgeons in SSA countries, as well as the potential place of the journal Nemesis in this African context.