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Publications

For the past decade, our research team has engaged in extensive methodological work in Small Area Estimation (SAE) to enhance the accuracy of child mortality and prevalence estimates in regions with sparse data. This ongoing research includes developing and validating models that are critical for accurately assessing health indicators, especially in LIMCs. Our validated methodologies have been published in peer-reviewed journals, providing valuable insights for both academic research and practical applications. Learn more at Professor Jon Wakefield's research page.

Selected Publications

  • Dong Q, Wu Y, Li, ZR, Wakefield, J (2026). Toward a principled workflow for prevalence mapping using household survey data. To appear, Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology.

  • Paulson K, Fuglstad G-A, Li RZ and Wakefield J (2026). Temporal models for estimation and short-term forecasting of neonatal mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa. To appear, Annals of Applied Statistics.

  • McGovern A, Wilson K and Wakefield J (2026). Direct-assisted Bayesian unit-level modeling for small area estimation of rare event prevalence. To appear, Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology.

  • Okonek T, Wilson K and Wakefield J (2026). A pseudolikelihood approach to under-five mortality estimation. To appear, Demographic Research.

  • Wu Y, Dharamshi A and Wakefield J (2026). Small area estimation of education levels in low- and middle-income countries. To appear, Annals of Applied Statistics.

  • Wakefield J, Gao P, Fuglstad G-A and Li ZR (2026). The two cultures for prevalence mapping: small area estimation and geostatistics (with discussion). To appear, Statistical Science.

  • Aleshin-Guendel S and Wakefield J (2025). Adaptive Gaussian Markov random fields for child mortality estimation. Biostatistics, 26, kxae030.

  • Wu, Y., & Wakefield, J. (2024). Modeling urban/rural fractions in low- and middle-income countries. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A, 3, 811-830.

  • Gao, P.A., & Wakefield, J. (2024). Smoothed model-assisted small area estimation of proportions. The Canadian Journal of Statistics, 52, 337-358.

  • Gao, P.A., & Wakefield, J. (2023). A spatial variance‐smoothing area level model for small area estimation of demographic rates. International Statistical Review, 91, 493-510.

  • Schumacher, A., McCormick, T., Wakefield, J., Chu, Y., Perin, J., Villavicencio, F., Simon, N., & Liu, L. (2022). A flexible Bayesian framework to estimate age- and cause-specific child mortality over time from sample registration data. Annals of Applied Statistics, 16, 124-143.

  • Wu, Y., Li, Z.R., Mayala, B.K., Wang, H., Gao, P., Paige, J., Fuglstad, G.-A., Moe, C., Godwin, J., Donohue, R.E., Crodt, T.N., & Wakefield, J. (2021). Spatial modeling for subnational administrative level 2 small-area estimation. DHS Spatial Analysis Reports No. 21. Rockville, Maryland, USA.

  • Dong, T., & Wakefield, J. (2021). Modeling and presentation of health and demographic indicators in a low- and middle-income countries context. Vaccine, 39(18), 2584-2594.

  • Wakefield, J., Okonek, T., & Pedersen, J. (2020). Small area estimation for disease prevalence mapping. International Statistical Review, 88, 398-418.

  • Wilson, K., & Wakefield, J. (2020). Pointless spatial modeling. Biostatistics, 21(2), e17-e32. Oxford University Press.

  • Wilson, K., & Wakefield, J. (2020). Child Mortality Estimation Incorporating Summary Birth History Data. Biometrics. Published online: 24 September 2020.

  • Li, Z.R., Hsiao, Y., Godwin, J., Martin, B.D., Wakefield, J., & Clark, S.J. (2019). Changes in the spatial distribution of the under-five mortality rate: small-area analysis of 122 DHS surveys in 262 subregions of 35 countries in Africa. PLoS One, 14(1), e0210645.

  • Wakefield, J., Fuglstad, G.-A., Riebler, A., Godwin, J., Wilson, K., & Clark, S.J. (2018). Estimating under five mortality in space and time in a developing world context. Statistical Methods in Medical Research, 9, 2614-2634.

  • Mercer, L., Wakefield, J., Pantazis, A., Lutambi, A., Mosanja, H., & Clark, S. (2015). Small area estimation of childhood mortality in the absence of vital registration. Annals of Applied Statistics, 9(4), 1889-1905.