Abstract
This paper assesses the performance of African countries in selected field of Science and Technology (S&T) over the last twenty years. The purpose is to determine the readiness of these countries in aligning to the strategic direction set by African Union (AU 2063) agenda. The AU 2063 aims to emplace a paradigm shift from the current structure where its members’ dependence on natural resources to drive their economies to one that is knowledge-based. It thus set pillars for archiving this feat and they include; building and/or upgrading research infrastructures; enhancing professional and technical competencies; promoting entrepreneurship and innovation; and providing an enabling environment for STI development in the African continent. Data used for the study were retrieved from the SCImago database which comprises a total of seven subject areas cutting across 126 subject categories. In SCImago database, information was also searched on S&T performances with respect to publications in the World and Africa, over the last 20 years period starting from 1996–2015. Microsoft Excel was used to analyse the data collected. Results were presented in tables and figures on the top 10 most productive African countries in the field of S&T in all the seven selected subject areas. The paper suggested an intra-African collaborative effort between low and high performing countries in Africa as an option for developing the needed knowledge capacities for realising its regional developmental agenda (AU 2063).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA): Africa’s science, technology and innovation policies-national, regional and continental. In: Assessing Regional Integration in Africa (ARIA VII): Innovation, Competitiveness and Regional Integration, Chap. 5, pp. 83–104 (2016)
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA): African Science Technology and Innovation Review 2013. Economic Commission for Africa, Ethiopia (2014)
Chaman, S.M., Dharani, K.P., Biradar, B.S.: Mapping of chemical science research in India during 2005–2014. Int. J. Inf. Dissemination Technol. 7(1), 71–73 (2017)
Glanzel, W.: Bibliometrics as a research field: a course on theory and application of bibliometric indicators. Course Handout (2003). http://nsdl.niscair.res.in/jspui/handle/123456789/968. Last accessed 18 May 2017
Pouris, A.: Is Scientometrics in a crisis? Scientometrics 30, 397–399 (1994)
Mingers, J., Leydersdorff, L.: A review of theory and practice in Scientometrics. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 246, 1–19 (2015)
Hiremath, R., Gourikeremath, G., Hadagali, G., Kumbar, B.D.: India’s Science and Technology output, 1989–2014: a scientometric analysis. Libr. Philos. Pract. (e-journal). Paper 1367 (2016)
Gupta, B.M., Bala, A., Kshitig, A.: S&T publications output of India: a scientometric analyses of publications output, 1996–2011. Libr. Philos. Pract. (e-journal). Paper 921 (2013)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Utieyineshola, Y. (2018). Scientometric Analysis of Research Performance of African Countries in Selected Subjects Within the Field of Science and Technology. In: Erdt, M., Sesagiri Raamkumar, A., Rasmussen, E., Theng, YL. (eds) Altmetrics for Research Outputs Measurement and Scholarly Information Management. AROSIM 2018. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 856. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1053-9_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1053-9_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-1052-2
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-1053-9
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)