Africa’s contribution to the worldwide research literature: New analytical perspectives, trends, and performance indicators

Robert Tijssen

doi:10.1007/s11192-007-1658-3

Scientometrics

Volume/Issue:: Volume 71: Issue 2

Africa’s contribution to the worldwide research literature: New analytical perspectives, trends, and performance indicators

Author:

Robert Tijssen

Robert Tijssen

Search for other papers by Robert Tijssen in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

View More View Less

Pages:: 303–327

Online Publication Date:: 13 Mar 2007

Publication Date:: 01 May 2007

Article Category:: Research Article

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1658-3

Open access

Download PDF

Abstract

This paper examines general characteristics of African science from a quantitative ‘scientometric’ perspective. More specifically, that of research outputs of Africa-based authors published in the scientific literature during the years 1980–2004, either within the international journals representing ‘mainstream’ science, or within national and regional journals reflecting ‘indigenous science’. As for the international journals, the findings derived from Thomson Scientific’s Citation Indexes show that while Africa’s share in worldwide science has steadily declined, the share of international co-publications has increased very significantly, whereas low levels of international citation impact persist. A case study of South African journals reveals the existence of several journals that are not processed for these international databases but nonetheless show a distinctive citation impact on international research communities.

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share Link

Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://akjournals.com/view/journals/11192/71/2/article-p303.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

Scientometrics

Print ISSN:: 0138-9130

Online ISSN:: 1588-2861

To see the editorial board, please visit the website of Springer Nature.

Manuscript submission: http://www.editorialmanager.com/scim/

For subscription options, please visit the website of Springer Nature.

Scientometrics
Language	English
Size	B5
Year of Foundation	1978
Volumes per Year	1
Issues per Year	12
Founder	Akadémiai Kiadó
Founder's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Publisher	Akadémiai Kiadó Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Publisher's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245. CH-6330 Cham, Switzerland Gewerbestrasse 11.
Responsible Publisher	Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN	0138-9130 (Print)
ISSN	1588-2861 (Online)