Bibliometric analysis of public health research in Africa: The overall trend and regional comparisons
Keywords:
African, Public Health, SCI, Scientometrics, Research Trend
Abstract
Many diseases in Africa can be prevented with appropriate public health interventions. This study aimed to assess the bibliometric characteristics of public health related research articles published by researchers in African institutions from 1991 to 2005. Data used in this study were obtained from the online version of the ISI Web of Science: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-Expanded). Articles published between 1991 and 2005 that had the phrase ‘public health’ in the title, author keywords or abstract, and had at least one author whose contact address was in an African country, were selected for analysis. The annual number of public health related articles published by African researchers significantly increased from 28 articles in 1991 to 135 articles in 2005, a 382% increase. International collaboration also increased: from 45% of articles having international collaborators during 1991–1995, to 52% during1996–2000, and to 67% during 2001–2005. Collaborations were mostly with European and North American countries. Keywords, subject categories and collaboration patterns of articles varied across regions, reflecting differences in needs and collaboration networks. Public health related research output, as well as international collaborations, have been increasing in Africa. Regional variation observed in this study may assist policymakers to facilitate the advancement of public health research in different regions of Africa, and could be useful for international organisations in identifying needs and to allocate research funding. Future bibliometric analyses of articles published by African researchers, can consider conducting regional comparisons using standardised methods, as well as describing the overall patterns, in order to provide a more comprehensive view of their bibliometric characteristics.References
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2. World Health Organization (WHO). The world health report 2006 – working together for health. Geneva: WHO Press; 2006.
3. Rao C, Lopez AD, Hemed Y. Causes of death. In: Jamison DT, Feachem RG, Makgoba MW, et al., editors. Disease and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. 2nd ed. Washington DC: The World Bank; 2006.
4. Dahoun AM. Black Africa in the science citation index. Scientometrics. 1999;46:11–18. doi:10.1007/BF02766292
5. Jacobs D, Ingwersen P. A bibliometric study of the publication patterns in the sciences of South African scholars 1981–96. Scientometrics. 2000;47:75–93. doi:10.1023/A:1005617825947
6. Arvanitis R, Waast R, Gaillard J. Science in Africa: A bibliometric panorama using PASCAL database, 1987–1997. Scientometrics. 2000;47:457–473. doi:10.1023/A:1005615816165
7. Harande Y. Bibliometric analysis of economic geology literature from Africa 1993–1996. Science Technol Libr. 2001;20:45–54. doi:10.1300/J122v20n04_06
8. Narváez-Berthelemot N, Russell JM, Arvanitis R, Waast R, Gaillard J. Science in Africa: An overview of mainstream scientific output. Scientometrics. 2002;54:229–241. doi:10.1023/A:1016033528117
9. Tijssen RJW. Africa’s contribution to the worldwide research literature: New analytical perspectives, trends, and performance indicators. Scientometrics. 2007;71:303–327. doi:10.1007/s11192-007-1658-3
10. MacÃas-Chapula CA, Mijangos-Nolasco A. Bibliometric analysis of AIDS literature in Central Africa. Scientometrics. 2002;54:309–317. doi:10.1023/A:1016074230843
11. Onyancha OB, Ocholla DN. A comparative study of the literature on HIV/AIDS in Kenya and Uganda: A bibliometric study. Libr Inf Sci Res. 2004;26:434–447. doi:10.1016/j.lisr.2004.04.005
12. Molatudi M, Pouris A. Assessing the knowledge base for biotechnology in South Africa: A bibliometric analysis of South African microbiology and molecular biology and genetics research. Scientometrics. 2006;68:97–108. doi:10.1007/s11192-006-0085-1
13. Pouris A. Nanoscale research in South Africa: A mapping exercise based on scientometrics. Scientometrics. 2007;70:541–553. doi:10.1007/s11192-007-0301-7
14. Bridgstock M. The quality of single and multiple authored papers – An unresolved problem. Scientometrics. 1991;21:37–48. doi:10.1007/BF02019181
15. Meneghini R. The key role of collaborative work in the growth of Brazilian science in the last ten years. Scientometrics. 1996;35:367–373. doi:10.1007/BF02016907
16. Swingler GH, Pillay V, Pienaar ED, Ioannidis JPA. International collaboration, funding and association with burden of disease in randomized controlled trials in Africa. Bull World Health Org. 2005;83:511–517. PMid:16175825, PMid:2626288
17. Pereira JCR, Vasconcellos JP, Furusawa L, Barbati AD. Who’s who and what’s what in Brazilian public health sciences. Scientometrics. 2007;73:37–52. doi:10.1007/s11192-007-1787-8
18. United Nations Statistics Division. Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings [document on the Internet]. c2006 [cited 2006 Dec 12; updated 2006 June 29]. Available from: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#africa
19. SPSS. Base 10.0 for Windows. Chicago, IL: SPSS Inc.; 1999.
20. Mann JM, Tarantola D, Netter T. AIDS in the world. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; 1992.
21. Schubert A, Glanzel W. Cross-national preference in co-authorship, references and citations. Scientometrics. 2006;69:409–428. doi:10.1007/s11192-006-0160-7
22. Siegfried N, Clarke M, Volmink J. Randomised controlled trials in Africa of HIV and AIDS: Descriptive study and spatial distribution. Br Med J. 2005;331:742–746. doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7519.742, PMid:16195291, PMid:1239977
Published
2011-05-05
Section
Research Articles