Global Health Research Cannot Be Ethical Without Linguistic Justice, Regional Publishing, and Community Accountability

Global health research depends on knowledge generated in partnership with communities whose linguistic, cultural, and political contexts shape the realities under investigation. Yet the infrastructures governing academic knowledge production systematically distance research outputs from these communities through intersecting inequities in language, publishing venue, and community engagement. This Short Communication examines how dominant norms privileging English-language publication, high-impact Global North journals, and extractive models of community participation reproduce epistemic hierarchies that undermine the ethical foundations of global health research. Drawing on language justice scholarship, Foucauldian analysis of power-knowledge regimes, and community-based participatory research frameworks, we argue that the marginalization of non-English languages, the lack of circulation of regional journals, and the confinement of community involvement to data collection collectively constitute structural barriers to equitable knowledge production. These patterns reflect entrenched colonial structures, donor-driven incentive systems, and academic reward mechanisms that concentrate epistemic authority in high-income institutions. We call on journals, funders, and academic institutions to adopt concrete reforms, multilingual dissemination, recognition of regional publishing, and investment in equitable community partnerships, to ensure that global health knowledge serves the communities that make it possible.