To gain insight into the duration and quality of the scientific peer review process, we analyzed data from 3500 review experiences submitted by authors to the SciRev.sc website. Aspects studied are ...duration of the first review round, total review duration, immediate rejection time, the number, quality, and difficulty of referee reports, the time it takes authors to revise and resubmit their manuscript, and overall quality of the experience. We find clear differences in these aspects between scientific fields, with Medicine, Public health, and Natural sciences showing the shortest durations and Mathematics and Computer sciences, Social sciences, Economics and Business, and Humanities the longest. One-third of journals take more than 2 weeks for an immediate (desk) rejection and one sixth even more than 4 weeks. This suggests that besides the time reviewers take, inefficient editorial processes also play an important role. As might be expected, shorter peer review processes and those of accepted papers are rated more positively by authors. More surprising is that peer review processes in the fields linked to long processes are rated highest and those in the fields linked to short processes lowest. Hence authors’ satisfaction is apparently influenced by their expectations regarding what is common in their field. Qualitative information provided by the authors indicates that editors can enhance author satisfaction by taking an independent position vis-à-vis reviewers and by communicating well with authors.
In this paper we describe the Subnational Human Development Database. This database contains for the period 1990-2017 for 1625 regions within 161 countries the national and subnational values of the ...Subnational Human Development Index (SHDI), for the three dimension indices on the basis of which the SHDI is constructed - education, health and standard of living --, and for the four indicators needed to create the dimension indices -- expected years of schooling, mean years of schooling, life expectancy and gross national income per capita. The subnational values of the four indicators were computed using data from statistical offices and from the Area Database of the Global Data Lab, which contains indicators aggregated from household surveys and census datasets. Values for missing years were estimated by interpolation and extrapolation from real data. By normalizing the population-weighted averages of the indicators to their national levels in the UNDP-HDI database, values of the SHDI and its dimension indices were obtained that at national level equal their official versions of the UNDP.
Until now, little was known about the variation in incidence of twin births across developing countries, because national representative data was lacking. This study provides the first comprehensive ...overview of national twinning rates across the developing world on the basis of reliable survey data.
Data on incidence of twinning was extracted from birth histories of women aged 15-49 interviewed in 150 Demographic and Health Surveys, held between 1987 and 2010 in 75 low and middle income countries. During the interview, information on all live births experienced by the women was recorded, including whether it was a singleton or multiple birth. Information was available for 2.47 million births experienced by 1.38 million women in a period of ten years before the interview. Twinning incidence was measured as the number of twin births per thousand births. Data for China were computed on the basis of published figures from the 1990 census. Both natural and age-standardized twinning rates are presented.
The very low natural twinning rates of 6-9 per thousand births previously observed in some East Asian countries turn out to be the dominant pattern in the whole South and South-East Asian region. Very high twinning rates of above 18 per thousand are not restricted to Nigeria (until now seen as the world's twinning champion) but found in most Central-African countries. Twinning rates in Latin America turn out to be as low as those in Asia. Changes over time are small and not in a specific direction.
We provide the most complete and comparable overview of twinning rates across the developing world currently possible.
While according to the United Nations birth registration is a human right, in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) only half of new-born children currently have their birth registered. To gain insight into the ...reasons behind this low registration rate, we study the role of determinants at the household, sub-national regional and country level, using self-reported birth registration data on 358,842 children in 40 SSA countries. While most of the variation in reported birth registration is due to factors at the household level, context factors are found to play an important role as well. At the household level, poverty, low education, restricted autonomy of women, and belonging to a traditional religion are associated with lower odds of being registered. Lack of professional care during pregnancy, delivery, and early life also decrease the odds of being registered. Important factors at the context level are the average number of prenatal care visits in the local area, living in an urban area, the kind of birth registration legislation, decentralization of the registration system, fertility rates, and the number of conflicts. To improve registration, the complex dynamics of these factors at the household and context level have to be taken into account.
Data for low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) are used to investigate the effect of the demographic transition on economic growth at sub-national level. We introduce a detailed classification of ...demographic window phases, determine how these phases are distributed among and within LMICs, and analyze the relationship between the demographic window of opportunity (DWO) and economic growth for 1921 urban and rural areas of sub-national regions within 91 LMICs. Many areas in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have entered the window, but most of Sub-Saharan Africa is still in the traditional or pre-window phase. Our analyses reveal higher growth rates in areas passing through the DWO. Positive growth effects are particularly strong in rural and more educated regions and in countries with lower levels of corruption. Policy measures aimed at effectively using the DW for achieving growth should combine investments in education and rural development with better governance.
Abstract This data descriptor presents the Subnational Corruption Database (SCD), which provides data on corruption in 1,473 subnational areas of 178 countries. The SCD includes a comprehensive ...overall corruption index, the Subnational Corruption Index (SCI), and its two components: the Subnational Grand Corruption Index (SGCI) and Subnational Petty Corruption Index (SPCI). The SCD is constructed by combining data of 807 surveys held in the period 1995–2022 and includes the corruption experiences and perceptions of 1,326,656 respondents along 19 separate dimensions. The data are available for multiple years, allowing longitudinal analyses. At the national level, the SCI correlates strongly with established corruption indices, like the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) and the World Bank Control of Corruption Index (CCI). We create subnational estimates of the CPI and CCI by superimposing the subnational variation of the SCI around the national averages of these indices. The presentation of subnational data in the SCD and the separation between grand and petty corruption significantly broaden the global knowledge base in the field of corruption.
Abstract
The extent to which societies will globally be able to adapt to climate change is not well understood. Here we analyze socioeconomic dimensions of adaptive capacity of populations to deal ...with heat stress and find income, urbanization and income inequality to be important factors in explaining adaptation to heat stress with air conditioning (AC). Using the scenario framework of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), we estimate the future cooling gap, which represents the difference between the population exposed to heat stress and the population able to protect against heat stress with AC. Depending on the scenario of socioeconomic development, total population affected by the cooling gap may vary between 2 billion and 5 billion people in 2050, with the scenario-dependent range widening further towards the end of the century. Our analysis shows vast regional inequalities in adaptive capacity for one of the most universal manifestations of climate change, underscoring the need to account for the different potential levels of adaptive capacity in assessments of climate change impacts.
We have tested whether a genotype-phenotype relationship exists in Brugada syndrome (BS) by trying to distinguish BS patients with (carriers) and those without (non-carriers) a mutation in the gene ...encoding the cardiac sodium channel (SCN5A) using clinical parameters.
Brugada syndrome is an inherited cardiac disease characterized by a varying degree of ST-segment elevation in the right precordial leads and (non)specific conduction disorders. In a minority of patients, SCN5A mutations can be found. Genetic heterogeneity has been demonstrated, but other causally related genes await identification. If a genotype-phenotype relationship exists, this might facilitate screening.
In a multi-center study, we have collected data on demographics, clinical history, family history, electrocardiogram (ECG) parameters, His to ventricle interval (HV), and ECG parameters after pharmacologic challenge with INablocking drugs for BS patients with (n = 23), or those without (n = 54), an identified SCN5A mutation.
No differences were found in demographics, clinical history, or family history. Carriers had a significantly longer PQ interval on the baseline ECG and a significantly longer HV time. A PQ interval of ≥210 ms and an HV interval ≥60 ms seem to be predictive for the presence of an SCN5A mutation. After INablocking drugs, carriers had significantly longer PQ and QRS intervals and more increase in QRS duration.
We observed significantly longer conduction intervals on baseline ECG in patients with established SCN5A mutations (PQ and HV interval and, upon class I drugs, more QRS increase). These results concur with the observed loss of function of mutated BS-related sodium channels. Brugada syndrome patients with, and those without, an SCN5A mutation can be differentiated by phenotypical differences.
Research and policy circles often emphasize the importance of social capital in achieving social transformation and economic development. There is also, however, potentially a ‘dark side’ to social ...capital. This study investigates the relationship between two different types of social capital—structural and cognitive—using two different measures of political violence: self-reported support for political violence and self-reported participation in political violence. We theorized that cognitive social capital will facilitate social cohesion within a community, enabling particularized trust between neighbours and a shared identity. On the other hand, structural social capital, or associational membership, potentially facilitates the diffusion of grievances and facilitates collective mobilization. Accordingly, we predict that higher levels of structural social capital will be associated with support for and participation in political violence, whilst higher levels of cognitive social capital will be associated with less support for and participation in political violence. We then test these predictions using Afrobarometer data on 40,455 individuals living in 27 African countries. Multivariate regression analysis confirms that indicators of structural and cognitive social capital have contrasting relationships with support for and participation in political violence. While particularized trust and national identity are negatively associated with political violence, religious and community associational membership are positively associated with political violence. In addition, we find that strength of attachment to a social identity, regardless of whether to an ethnic or national identity, is an important indicator of political violence.
Objectives
Evolutionary theory predicts grandmothers to invest more in their daughter’s children than in their son’s children, because of the higher likelihood of being genetically related to their ...daughter’s children. At the same time, most African cultures are characterized by male dominance, which might make it more profitable to invest in sons than in daughters. Here, the relative importance of paternal versus maternal grandmothers for children’s schooling is studied as well as how this grandmother gender effect varies across circumstances.
Methods
The importance of paternal versus maternal grandmothers for children’s schooling is studied using multilevel logistic regression analysis on data for 896,073 children aged 7–15, living in 33 sub-Saharan African countries. We control for demographic and socio-economic factors at household and context level and study the role of circumstances using interaction analysis.
Results
Children living with a paternal grandmother have a higher chance of being in school than children living with a maternal grandmother. This effect is larger for boys, when the father is higher educated and when a grandfather is present. It is reduced when mother’s education level is higher.
Conclusions
Children living with a paternal grandmother have better schooling outcomes relative to those living with a maternal grandmother. This advantage of living with a paternal grandmother is stronger for boys and when the father is higher educated. Male dominance as a cultural factor seems to be more important for grandmother’s investments than certainty about genetic relatedness. Only a higher education level of the mother seems to counterbalance this tendency to a certain extent.
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