Research Publications of South African Scientists, 1945–2010

Abstract

Scientific research findings are released to the public domain via several outlets. Peer-reviewed journals, monographs and books are among them. Apart from what these researches produce (discoveries, for instance), scholars study research as well. One method of investigating and understanding the research of a particular group of scientists (scientists in an institution or in a country) is to examine the publications the scientists have produced. These publications, if they are carried in peer-reviewed journals, are usually stored and preserved in databases that could be accessed and analysed. The ISI Web of Science, PASCAL and SCOPUS are some of the journals that are widely used for the analysis of the trends and patterns of scientific research (Glanzel, 2002; Glover and Bowen, 2004; Gomez et al., 1999; Harsanyi, 1993).