A bibliometric analysis of South Africa’s scientific outputs – some trends and implications

South African Journal of Science

 
 
Field Value
 
Title A bibliometric analysis of South Africa’s scientific outputs – some trends and implications
 
Creator Kahn, Michael
 
Subject science policy; bibliometrics bibliometrics; publication volume; subject area; author address; innovation policy
Description The paper examines the change in volume of South African publications as indexed to the Web of Science over the periods 1990–1994 and 2004–2008. It was noted that publication volumes have increased sharply even while the stock of researchers has remained static. A number of factors may account for the rise including the increase in the Department of Education publication subsidy, the increase in the number of South African journals indexed to the Web of Science and a shift in focus to fields with higher publication propensity. For example, it was noted that a new growth area has emerged in the field of infectious diseases. The publication count by author institution showed that collaboration with foreign authors has increased considerably across the two periods and it is suggested that it is this factor that best accounts for the rise in volume. The concentration by subject area permitted some judgement to be made regarding the prospects for the five grand challenges of the Ten Year Innovation Plan. Lastly, it was noted that if it is collaboration that is driving the volume increase, the system is vulnerable to offshore changes.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor National Research Foundation Reesearch Fellowship
Date 2011-01-27
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Quasi-experimental
Format application/pdf text/html text/xml
Identifier 10.4102/sajs.v107i1/2.406
 
Source South African Journal of Science; Vol 107, No 1/2 (2011); 6 pages 1996-7489 0038-2353
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/view/406/531 https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/view/406/555 https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/view/406/556 https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/downloadSuppFile/406/1496 https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/downloadSuppFile/406/1497 https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/downloadSuppFile/406/1498 https://journals.sajs.aosis.co.za/index.php/sajs/article/downloadSuppFile/406/1499
 
Coverage South Africa 1990-2008 Web of Science database
Rights Copyright (c) 2011 Michael Kahn https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
ADVERTISEMENT