Summary of the characteristics of included articles (n=495)
| Characteristic | n (%) |
| Published in a journal with | |
| Impact factor | 45 (9) |
| Open access | 342 (69) |
| General scope | 239 (48) |
| Commercial publisher | 205 (41) |
| African Journals Partnership Project membership | 35 (7) |
| Country of corresponding author | |
| Nigeria | 250 (51) |
| South Africa | 83 (17) |
| Other African country | 99 (20) |
| Non-African country | 63 (13) |
| Type of study | |
| Cross sectional study | 247 (50) |
| Retrospective study | 65 (13) |
| Case report | 42 (9) |
| Trial | 36 (7) |
| Cohort study | 22 (4) |
| Review | 21 (4) |
| Case control study | 12 (2) |
| Other | 50 (10) |