Authorship and building psychological research in low and middle income countries: a view from the Pacific Island Nation of Fiji

Abstract

Psychological science has been biased towards Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic contexts. One indicator of better globalization is increasing authorship from Indigenous populations and less economically developed countries. This article considers the nature of research development in these contexts by analysing authorship from Fiji, a middle-income country in the Pacific Islands region. A review of Fijian psychological research literature up to December 2020 identified 131 publications. The majority of publications (59.7%) had no author based in Fiji at the time of study. Of the Fiji-based authors, most were associated with a single Fijian sample study or were based in Fiji but mainly co-authoring studies on international populations. Despite an apparent growth in publications, there remains a lack of research development to benefit understanding of the Indigenous population or to increase local research capacity. The findings are discussed with respect to how existing initiatives to include and develop research in smaller, low- and middle-income countries may not be sufficiently serving longer-term purposes to support the Indigenous communities.