Insight/Opinion

The State of Science and Technology in Africa (2000-2004): A Scientometric Assessment

Anastassios Pouris

A forthcoming article in the International Journal of Scientometrics reports for the first time the state of science and technology in the African Continent (country by country) on the basis of two scientometric indicators - number of research publications and number of patents awarded to inventors from the Continent by the USPTO.

Its authors Anastassios Pouris, of the Institute for Technological Innovation at the University of Pretoria, and Anthipi Pouris of South Africa’s National Research Foundation, suggest that the effort covers partially the need for the development of monitoring science and technology indicators for the Continent.

The authors argue that “monitoring and evaluating the various facets of the scientific enterprise is a necessary and integral part of science policy. Rising costs of research and development (R&D) and competing disciplinary claims for financial resources require intelligent allocation of resources, which pre-supposes knowledge of the activities and performance of the innovation system”. Furthermore they identify that despite the fact that the importance of indicators has been recognized in the first NEPAD Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology and the NEPAD Declaration (NEPAD, 2003) commits NEPAD to “develop and adopt common sets of indicators to benchmark our national and regional systems of innovation”, Africa is the only Continent without an agency responsible to promote and assist in the development of STI indicators.

Pouris and Pouris show that Africa produced 68 945 publications over the 2000-2004 period or 1.8% of the World’s research publications. In comparison, India produced 2.4% and Latin America 3.5% of the World’s research publications. Detailed analysis reveals that research in Africa is concentrated in just two countries – South Africa and Egypt. These two countries produce just above 50% of the Continent’s publications and the top eight countries produce collectively above 80% of the Continent’s research. Disciplinary analysis reveals that few African countries have the minimum number of scientists required for the functioning of a scientific discipline. Examination of the Continent’s inventive profile, as manifested by patents, indicates that Africa produces less than one thousand of the world’s inventions. Furthermore, 88% of the Continent’s inventive activity is concentrated in South Africa.

They find that “land and primary resources” sciences (i.e. agriculture, ecology, geosciences and plant and animal sciences) are over emphasized in the Continent occupying 26.4% of the research in Africa while the relevant figures for USA and India are 13.5% and 19.5% respectively. They conclude that “the main concern in the Continent should be how to develop research capacity across the board (and not only in particular disciplines). African countries need to do two things simultaneously. On the one hand they should aim to produce more research-trained students and on the other hand they should create the appropriate conditions so that graduates are enticed to remain in their own countries. Similarly international donors should aim to support the maintenance of the existing disciplinary centers of expertise and the creation of a research system in the Continent”.

More information:

National Research Foundation (South Africa): www.nrf.ac.za

University of Pretoria: www.up.ac.za
 

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