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Scientometric research in South Africa and successful policy instruments

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  • Anastassios Pouris

    (University of Pretoria)

Abstract

This document provides an analysis of scientometric research in South Africa and it discusses sources of growth in the country’s research literature in general. South Africa is identified to have limited expertise in the field revealed mainly during the last decade. However, the country is ranked 21st in the world among the countries publishing in the journal Scientometrics and it is the only African country with such a standing in the field. Identification of the forces affecting positively the growth in the number of research publications in the country indicates that the primary incentive fuelling the recent growth is the new funding formula in the country which subsidizes the universities by more than R100 000 for each publication that their staff produces. The increase in the number of journals indexed in the ISI Thomson Reuters database and the incorporation of social sciences at the NRF have also affected the growth of research publications, but to a lesser extent.

Suggested Citation

  • Anastassios Pouris, 2012. "Scientometric research in South Africa and successful policy instruments," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 91(2), pages 317-325, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:91:y:2012:i:2:d:10.1007_s11192-011-0581-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-011-0581-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lubango, Louis Mitondo & Pouris, Anastassios, 2009. "Is patenting activity impeding the academic performance of South African University researchers?," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 315-324.
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    Cited by:

    1. Nelson Casimiro Zavale & Patrício Vitorino Langa, 2018. "University-industry linkages’ literature on Sub-Saharan Africa: systematic literature review and bibliometric account," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(1), pages 1-49, July.
    2. Anastassios Pouris & Yuh-Shan Ho, 2014. "Research emphasis and collaboration in Africa," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(3), pages 2169-2184, March.
    3. Andrey Guskov & Denis Kosyakov & Irina Selivanova, 2016. "Scientometric research in Russia: impact of science policy changes," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 107(1), pages 287-303, April.
    4. R. Inglesi-Lotz & A. Pouris, 2013. "The influence of scientific research output of academics on economic growth in South Africa: an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) application," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(1), pages 129-139, April.
    5. Alan Peter Matthews, 2013. "Physics publication productivity in South African universities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(1), pages 69-86, April.
    6. Thabang Lazarus Bambo & Anastassios Pouris, 2020. "Bibliometric analysis of bioeconomy research in South Africa," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(1), pages 29-51, October.

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