Author summary Malaria remains a major global health concern, with Plasmodium vivax being the most prevalent species in the Americas. Although historically regarded as less severe than P. falciparum, ...

The Spanish-speaking Latin America region (LATAM) entails low representation in international databases (1) despite exhibiting incredible microbial diversity and endemicity for numerous infectious agents that have been tackled by skilled local microbiologists. Many factors, such as the inability to pay article processing charges (APCs), force LATAM researchers to publish in low-impact national journals or not publish at all. Their publications represent less than 1% of articles in gold (charge an APC) and 25% in diamond open-access journals (no APC charge) (1), 2.64% of the yearly total biomedical and life science publications (2), and have fewer citations even when published in prestigious journals (3, 4). Some of these constraints, such as limited funding and a significant gap in the number of publications compared to research-intensive institutions, are shared with small U.S. universities (5). This disparity is evident with studies reporting that the top 25% of institutions produce 89% of scientific articles from the United States (6). Ironically, both LATAM and small U.S. universities share the strict requirement of high-impact publications for promotion.

Rivera-Correa Lab: Immunology of tropical infections