Background: Global healthcare research suffers from inequalities, favouring high-income countries, which hampers fair healthcare access. Low and lower-middle-income nations face limited participation and editorial bias, posing concerns for research integrity. Potential reasons for this pattern might be the overrepresentation of researchers from the Global North on editorial boards, disparities in the quality of scientific research, lack of support for local research initiatives, and challenges posed by language barriers. The aim of this study was to assess data transparency and representation patterns of low- and lower-middle-income nations on Editorial Boards of prominent Internal Medicine journals. Methods: The top 50 journals in the "Internal medicine including allied super specialities" subject category were selected based on SCImago journal ranking, journal impact factor, literature research and journal citation report. We examined the editorial boards of these journals using the World Bank Income Criteria. Results: Out of 2406 editorial board members of leading journals, only 5(0.21%) were from low-income countries (LICs), while lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) and upper-middle- income countries (UMICs) constituted 64(2.67%) and 176(7.31%), respectively. High-income countries (HICs) dominated editorial boards, with 2161(89.8%) representation. Conclusion: Editorial boards of top Internal Medicine and allied super-specialty journals lack adequate representation from low and lower-middle-income countries. This deficiency has significant implications, affecting knowledge production, policy development, and the overall progress of science and research on a global scale. Urgent measures are required to establish a fair and inclusive scholarly publishing system that caters to researchers from all regions.

Background: Amid all public health measures to contain COVID-19, the most challenging has been how to break the transmission chain. This has been even more challenging in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). A public health emergency warrants a public health perspective, which comes down to prevention. Rapid mass testing has been advocated throughout the pandemic as a way to promptly deal with asymptomatic infections, but its usefulness in LMICs is yet to be fully understood. Objective: The study objectives of this paper are to (1) investigate the impact of the different rapid mass testing options for SARS-CoV-2 that have been delivered at point of care in LMICs and (2) evaluate the diagnostic safety (accuracy) of rapid mass testing for SARS-CoV-2 in LMICs. Methods: This review will systematically search records in PubMed, EBSCOhost, Cochrane library, Global Index Medicus COVID-19 Register, and Scopus. Records will be managed using Mendeley reference manager and SWIFT-Review. Risk of bias for randomized controlled trials will be assessed using the RoB 2 assessment tool, while nonrandomized interventions will be assessed using the tool developed by the Evidence Project. A narrative approach will be used to synthesize data under the first objective, and either a meta-analysis or synthesis without meta-analysis for the second objective. Tables, figures, and textual descriptions will be used to present findings. The overall body of evidence for the first objective will be assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation–Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative research (GRADE-CERQual) approach, and for the second objective using GRADE. Results: The screening of records has been finalized. We hope to finalize the synthesis by the end of February 2023 and to prepare the manuscript for publication by April 2023. The study will be reported in accordance with standard guidelines for the reporting of systematic reviews. Review results will be disseminated through conferences and their peer-reviewed publication in a relevant journal. Conclusions: This review highlights the role of a preventive approach in infection control using rapid mass testing. It also flags the overriding need to involve users and providers in the evaluation of such tests in the settings for which they are intended. This will be the first review to the best of our knowledge to generate both qualitative and quantitative evidence regarding rapid mass testing specific to LMICs. Trial Registration: PROSPERO CRD42022283776; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=283776 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/41132

A BSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant psychological effects on individuals and communities around the world. Studies have found that the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms increased significantly during the pandemic. The goal of the study is to understand how the emerging new virus variants keep the world in a state of fear and how mental health measures can be implemented and adopted to alleviate anxiety. A broad search for observational studies was carried out in Pubmed, Google Scholar, Clinical Key, and World Medical Library. Studies that reported and/or related the existence of anxiety generated by suffering or not from diseases caused by the new emerging COVID-19 viruses and that for which the full text of the article was accessible were included in the study, while systematic review and meta-analysis and studies in groups were excluded. However, 22 studies were included in the review. The deleterious psychosocial effects were the restructuring of life, establishment of unhealthy habits, emergence of “ corona phobia ”, fear and stigma of being afflicted with the disease and spreading it to loved ones, and lack of contact with others. Increased rates of depression and anxiety were also seen. The circulating variants responsible for these main psychosocial repercussions were Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Iota, Kappa, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta . Social support was found to be protective. There is a critical need for a comprehensive approach addressing not only the physiological well-being of an individual but also their mental well-being to pave the way for a society that is resilient in the face of current as well as future pandemics.