Hello Megan,
This is an opinion I have shared with my colleagues:
Yes, this does introduce bias if you eliminate a study published in a peer-reviewed journal by the investigator's country of origin. However, clinical medical and biomedical sciences research are a global phenomenon. I am of the opinion, if the journal is indexed and vetted for inclusion in Medline, Scopus, or another authoritative bibliographic database that uses a committee to review the contents of the journal, or the paper is peer-reviewed in a journal that follows the guidelines of ICMJE, COPE, or other authoritative body for editors and academic publishers, it should be included. Additionally, journals with a rigorous peer-review process, an international editorial body, and who also publish studies that are sound and reproducible have merit for inclusion.
I tend to discourage investigators from using papers published in potential or identified predatory journal titles without first reaching out to the authors or critically examining for reproducibility. Where is gets a bit murky is those journals where they do not follow the conventions of the ICMJE – it may be due to inexperience. Several newer journal publishers are now being incubated by the larger STM presses, such as Wiley. If not stated on the journal's website, you can usually do a Google search to find this information. If still in question, I suggest to the investigator to review the DOAJ and Think, Check, Submit websites.
Last, another reason I do not support eliminating based on country of origin, as many of our school's PIs write with colleagues at other research centers outside of North America. Our school also trains several foreign-born investigators as well, who often write with colleagues abroad too.
I hope you find this helpful.
Sincerely,
Liz Lorbeer
Elizabeth Lorbeer, EdM, MLS, AHIP
Chair and Associate Professor, Department of the Medical Library
Library Director
Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine