Journal A received a submission which focused on a systematic review/meta-analysis of a health problem in a specific country. It was written by four authors who do not live in that country. In addition, none of the authors seem to have any professional affiliation with any institution or researchers in that country. The systematic review/meta-analysis was based on published references and did not include primary data collection and analyses.
COPE advice
There is nothing inherently wrong with a paper based on published data/material. The authors' country of origin should not be a factor, rather the editor has to judge the paper on its own merits and the soundness of the analysis. The nationality, ethnicity, race or gender of the authors should be irrelevant to the merits of the paper. Belonging to a group is not a necessary condition for writing about that group. The only real issue is the quality of work in evidence in the manuscript.
If the editor has concerns, they could check the authorship/conflict of interest declarations and check for possible bias in the text or analyses. The authors’ reasons for doing the study could also be examined. A suggestion would be for the editor to ask several native reviewers to check the relevance to the country. If the paper is accepted, the journal could commission a commentary by a native person.