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Medical research in South Africa: a scientometric analysis of trends, patterns, productivity and partnership

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  • Radhamany Sooryamoorthy

    (Howard Campus, University of KwaZulu-Natal)

Abstract

Being a scientifically active country in Africa, South Africa has made significant strides in the production of scientific publications. Medicine is one branch of science that has achieved a remarkable position in this regard. Extracting and analyzing medical publications for three decades and at regular intervals (1975–2005) from the SCI database, this paper pioneers an attempt to find out whether the reported pace of growth in the production of scientific papers in medicine is an effect of partnerships that scholars have with their counterparts within the organization, within the country, or with those in other countries. This paper also presents the unique patterns of scientific research in medicine, taking into account factors such as the count and fractional count of papers, citations, trends of growth, sectoral participation, partners, and publication outlets, and seeks to provide new insights into the directions medical science is taking in South Africa today.

Suggested Citation

  • Radhamany Sooryamoorthy, 2010. "Medical research in South Africa: a scientometric analysis of trends, patterns, productivity and partnership," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(3), pages 863-885, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:84:y:2010:i:3:d:10.1007_s11192-010-0169-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-010-0169-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Hannes Toivanen & Branco Ponomariov, 2011. "African regional innovation systems: bibliometric analysis of research collaboration patterns 2005–2009," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 88(2), pages 471-493, August.
    2. Nan Zhang & Shanshan Wan & Peiling Wang & Peng Zhang & Qiang Wu, 2018. "A bibliometric analysis of highly cited papers in the field of Economics and Business based on the Essential Science Indicators database," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(2), pages 1039-1053, August.
    3. Tracy Klarenbeek & Nelius Boshoff, 2018. "Measuring multidisciplinary health research at South African universities: a comparative analysis based on co-authorships and journal subject categories," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(3), pages 1461-1485, September.
    4. Radhamany Sooryamoorthy, 2014. "Publication productivity and collaboration of researchers in South Africa: new empirical evidence," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(1), pages 531-545, January.
    5. Radhamany Sooryamoorthy, 2011. "Scientific publications of engineers in South Africa, 1975–2005," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 86(1), pages 211-226, January.
    6. Shanmugam Sachithanantham & Selvaraju Raja, 2015. "Scientometric analysis of rabies research literature in India: 1950–2014," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 105(1), pages 567-575, October.
    7. Jamali, Seyedh Mahboobeh & Md Zain, Ahmad Nurulazam & Samsudin, Mohd Ali & Ale Ebrahim, Nader, 2015. "Publication Trends in Physics Education: A Bibliometric study," MPRA Paper 79524, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2015.

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