The emergence of the global south in aging research

Résumé 0

Historically, aging research has been dominated by the United States and Europe. However, the expansion of scientific efforts in countries from the global south and their demographic transitions invite to explore the evolution and content of their aging research portfolios. This chapter present a scientometric cartography of the last thirty year of aging research in China, India, and the countries of the African Union (AU), the community of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAC), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The participation of the global south in aging research showed a substantial increase over the last three decades with China achieving a volume of annual publications similar to that of the United States or the European Union. The content of the publications reveals differences between the countries and regions with China and India showing an important biomedical component in their research portfolios while the research efforts of the AU and ASEAN countries are more oriented, comparatively, to health management and policies. The CELAC research portfolio on aging, as a region, is similar to that of China and India, although with a lower frequency of clinical-therapeutic terms and a distinctive emphasis on topics related to frailty and the musculoskeletal system. These differences in research portfolios on aging could be related to different research capacities as well as different knowledge needs between the countries and regions studied.