Contribution of South Africa to Intra-Africa International Research

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The Contribution of South Africa to Intra-Africa International Research Partnerships

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The Contribution of South Africa to Intra-Africa InternationalResearch Partnerships

Vuyani Lingela and Mapule DegamaDepartment of Science and Technology; Postal Address: Private Bag X894, Pretoria 0001, South

Africa; Tel: +27 12 843 6517; Fax: +27 86 681 0051; Email: [email protected]

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to examine the contribution of South Africa to scientificknowledge production within Africa, as well as to examine the intensity of internationalresearch partnerships between South Africa and other African countries.

In order to examine the research contribution of South Africa, data on the number ofpublications produced by researchers in 55 African countries and the number of times theywere cited between 1981 and 2011 were obtained from InCites1. In order to analyse theintensity of the international research partnerships, the number of co-authored publicationsbetween researchers in South Africa and those in other African countries were examined.

Results and discussion

The total number of publications produced by each African country (excluding South Africa)and the total number of publications each country has co-authored with South Africa arepresented in Figure 1. The results indicate that although Egypt produced more publications(77 235) than Nigeria (36 146), Kenya (17 787), Zimbabwe (5 813) and Namibia (1 229)between 1981 and 2011, Nigeria (796), Kenya (699), Zimbabwe (707) and Namibia (469) co-authored more publications with South Africa than Egypt (185). Tunisia, Morocco and

Algeria, which produced more publications than most African countries such as Uganda,Botswana and Tanzania, have co-authored fewer publications with South Africa than mostAfrican countries. These results indicate that Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Namibiaaccount for most joint publications with South Africa among African countries.

It should be noted that the top 7 African countries (Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Namibia,Uganda, Botswana and Tanzania) that have co-authored most publications with South Africahave English as their official language or as one of their official languages. On the otherhand, four of the top 7 knowledge producing African countries (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco andAlgeria), whose official language is Arabic, are among the countries that have co-authoredfewer publications with South Africa. These results suggest that South African researcherstend to collaborate more with researchers in English speaking African countries than with

researchers in Arabic speaking African countries. This observation is more pronounced inthe case of South Africas international research partnership with Egypt.

The number of publications produced by the top 7 knowledge producing African countriesand the number of times they were cited between 1981 and 2011 are presented in Figure 2.The 32.0% (129 382) share of publications produced by South Africa, as a percentage of thetotal number of publications produced by 55 African countries, illustrates the dominantposition of South Africa in scientific knowledge production in Africa. South Africa is followedby Egypt, which produced 19.1% (77 235) of publications produced by 55 African countries.Nigeria produced 8.9% (36 146), Tunisia produced 5.7% (23 017), Morocco produced 5.1%(20 493), Kenya produced 4.4% (17 787) and Algeria produced 3.8% (15 551).

The results presented in Figure 2 indicate that South Africa has produced scientificpublications that have been cited much more often than those produced by other African
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countries between 1981 and 2011. South Africa has received a 39.6% (1 406 235) share ofcitations from its publications as a percentage of the total number of citations received frompublications produced by 55 African countries. South Africa is followed by Egypt and Nigeria,which received 13.3% (473 201) and 5.3% (189 259), respectively, of the citations receivedby 55 African countries. Tunisia received 3.4% (121 235), Morocco received 3.8% (136 412),Kenya received 6.8% (241 575) and Algeria received 2.4% (86 504).

Figure 1. Total number of publications and publications co-authored with South Africa

Figure 2. Number of publications (inside) and citations (outside) between 1981 and 2011

Algeria

Tunisia

Morocco

GhanaMozambique Egypt

Ethiopia

Zambia & MalawiCameroon

TanzaniaBotswana

Uganda

Namibia

Kenya

Zimbabwe

Nigeria

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Publicationsco-authoredwithSouthAfrica

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32.0%

19.1%

8.9%

5.7%

5.1%

4.4%3.8%

39.6%

13.3%

5.3%

3.4%

3.8%

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South Africa

Egypt

Nigeria

Tunisia

Morocco

Kenya

Algeria


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Figure 3. Total number of publications co-authored with South Africa per subject area

Figure 3 shows that most joint publications with four of South Africa s dominant Africanresearch partners were in clinical medicine (21.5%), plant and animal science (11.6%),environment/ecology (7.6%), social sciences (7.5%) and immunology (6.5%). Together, the

five subject areas accounted for 54.7% of joint publications with the four partner countries. Itshould be noted, however, that South Africa produced most joint publications in chemistry(77.0%) and space science (88.2%) with researchers in Nigeria and Namibia, respectively.

Conclusions

This paper shows that South Africa is a leading scientific knowledge producer in Africa. Italso shows that, South African researchers tend to collaborate more with researchers inEnglish speaking African countries than with researchers in Arabic speaking Africancountries. It should be noted, however, that South Africas intra-Africa international researchactivities are very limited compared to its vast international research activities with countriesoutside the African continent2. It should be interesting to know whether these trends do or donot mirror South Africas intra-Africa trade relations. It is important for South Africa, as aleading scientific knowledge producer in Africa, to play an active role in promoting intra-Africa international research partnerships. Funding for intra-Africa international researchpartnerships should be prioritized to promote intra-Africa scientific knowledge production.

References

1. InCitesTM, Thomson Reuters (2012). Report Created: 15 and 16 Oct 2012. DataProcessed Dec 31, 2011. Data Source: Web of Science.

2. Lingela V. (2011), Knowledge generation through international research partnerships:Implications for South Africas international technology transfer efforts. Conference on

Higher Education in South Africa. East London, South Africa, 22-24 November 2011.

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icrobiology

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Publicationsco-authored

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Documents

Contribution of South Africa to Intra-Africa International Research