A scientometric assessment of the Southern Africa Development Community: science in the tip of Africa
Summary (1 min read)
Introduction
- The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been established in 1992 under Article 2 of the SADC Treaty.
- The SADC protocol on Science Technology and Innovation is a legally binding document aimed at regulating collaborative initiatives within the SADC region to support the implementation of the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan and Africa’s Science and Technology Consolidated Plan of Action.
- Establishment of collaborative regional R&D programmes in priority areas 4. Promotion of the value and application of IKS & technologies 5. Promotion of technology transfer and innovation 6.
- The article aims to outline trends in the research outputs of the fifteen countries; to identify their scientific specialisation and to report their collaborative patterns.
Methodology and Data
- Scientometric analysis is one of the most efficient and objective methods of assessing scientific performance.
- The philosophy underlying the use of scientometric indicators as performance measures has been summarized in De Solla Price’s statement that “for those who are working at the research front, publication is not just an indicator but, in a very strong sense, the end product of their creative effort.” (DE SOLLA PRICE, 1975).
- There are limited scientometric studies investigating science in the African continent and even fewer which focus exclusively in the continent.
- The most often used databases for such analyses are the citation indices of Thomson Reuters (formerly known as those of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)).
- An activity index larger than one reflects higher than average effort dedicated to the field and vice versa.
Results: SADCs Scientific Performance
- The small output of the SADC countries becomes profound if the authors take into account that the University of Pretoria in South Africa is producing approximately 1000 publications per year.
- Probably the most important issue that should be emphasised is that it is doubtful that the SADC countries will be able to meet the “Millennium Development Goals” (MDG) with the existing research infrastructure.
- Portugal appears twice in the list, in collaboration with Angola and Mozambique.
- It should be emphasised that the major collaboration between Germany and South Africa and Germany and Namibia is in the field of space science.
Conclusion
- The objective of this article is to assess the state of science in the fifteen Southern Africa Development Community countries.
- South Africa produces only 0.55% of the world’s scientific literature.
- Identification of the research emphasis of the Community shows an emphasis on traditional research areas (agriculture, plant and animal sciences etc).
- There is an underemphasis in scientific areas promising to support innovation such as engineering, material sciences and molecular biology.
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Citations
41 citations
Cites methods from "A scientometric assessment of the S..."
...…are several studies that measure research output by employing bibliometric methods (Arvanitis et al. 2000; Davis 1983; Confraria and Godinho 2015; Gaillard 2000; Kahn 2011; Mêgnigbêto 2013; Pouris 2006, 2010; Pouris and Ho 2014; Pouris and Pouris 2009; Tijssen 2007; Toivanen and Ponomariov 2011)....
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36 citations
36 citations
Cites background from "A scientometric assessment of the S..."
...…Pouris, from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, with 13 publications (Pouris and Richter 2000; Pouris 2003, 2010, 2011, 2012a; Lubango and Pouris 2007, 2009, 2010; Pouris and Pouris 2009; Jeenah and Pouris 2008; Inglesi-Lotz and Pouris 2013; Pouris and Ho 2014; Makhoba and Pouris 2016);…...
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...…Blankley 2005; Letseka 2005; Kahn et al. 2007; Lorentzen 2009; Kahn 2006, 2013; Siyanbola et al. 2014; Ndabeni et al. 2016) and indicators (e.g. Tijssen 2007; Pouris and Pouris 2009; Pouris 2010; Mêgnigbêto 2013a, b; Confraria and Godinho 2015; Sooryamoorthy 2017; Owusu-Nimo and Boshoff 2017)....
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...…2010); (7) by Louis Mitondo Lubango, from the University of Pretoria and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, with 4 publications (Lubango and Pouris 2007, 2009, 2010; Lubango 2015); (8) by Sikiru Adigun Sanni, from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, with 4 publications (Sanni et al.…...
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...Glenda Kruss is followed (1) by Anatastassios Pouris, from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, with 13 publications (Pouris and Richter 2000; Pouris 2003, 2010, 2011, 2012a; Lubango and Pouris 2007, 2009, 2010; Pouris and Pouris 2009; Jeenah and Pouris 2008; Inglesi-Lotz and Pouris 2013;…...
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...…and technology in the whole continent (e.g. Tijssen 2007; Pouris and Pouris 2009; Toivanen and Ponomariov 2011, Confraria and Godinho 2015), in specific regions of the continent (Boshoff 2009, 2010; Pouris 2010; Mêgnigbêto 2013a, b, c), or in single countries (e.g. Sooryamoorthy 2009a, b)....
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33 citations
Cites background from "A scientometric assessment of the S..."
...South Africa, United Kingdom, and USA12 are the most common collaborators, not only in the field of basic sciences but in general as well, and in average they constitute between 42 % in Botswana and 78 % in Malawi (Pouris 2010)....
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29 citations
Cites background or result from "A scientometric assessment of the S..."
...Pouris (2010) dealt with the scientific production in the SADC; he made comparison among the community’s countries and found that South Africa is responsible for 79 % of the regional production....
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...The results are in line with Pouris (2010)’s conclusion stating that the colonial past and cultural ties play an important role in the structure of collaborative linkages....
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References
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"A scientometric assessment of the S..." refers background in this paper
...‘‘These databases currently provide the best source of information to identify the basic research activity across all countries and fields of science’’ (Tijssen 2007)....
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...Examples include Shrum (1997), Narvaez-Berthelemot et al. (2002), Ingwersen and Jacobs (2004), Tijssen (2007), Pouris (1996) and others....
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159 citations
119 citations