There are more than 50 countries in Africa, yet the region’s research output remains disproportionately low. According to an analysis of research papers in Thomson Reuters’ Web of Sciences database published between 1999 and 2008, Africa’s north region (five countries) accounted for the greatest portion of the continent’s scientific output, publishing 10,500 papers in 2008. The southern region (14 countries) also produced over 10,000 papers. In total, Africa accounted for about 27,000 papers annually. Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa dominated the research output. An analysis of 21 fields based on papers published between 2004 and 2008 found that South Africa was the most prolific nation in 15 of the fields. In general, Africa had a higher proportion of publications in fields related to natural resources. Measured in terms of number of publications per GDP in US dollars, Zimbabwe, Tunisia and Malawi were the most productive. US was the external county with which African nations most often collaborated. The strongest research connections existed among North African countries.

Source: Thomson Reuters