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A bibliometric analysis of how research collaboration influences Namibia’s research productivity and impact

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Abstract

International Research Collaboration (IRC) has been increasingly gaining significance in the evaluation of science performance of individuals, institutions and countries over decades. However, minimal research has been conducted to analyse the impact of research collaboration in research productivity and impact. Hence, this paper aimed to assess the status of research collaboration influence on Namibia’s science productivity and impact. The study used the bibliometric analysis technique by analysing the citation of publications from Namibia, ranging from 2011 to 2020, using data from the Scopus and SciVAl analytical tools for further analysis. The findings revealed that Namibia has developed a dependence on international collaboration with over 75% of Namibia publications during the past ten years. The study also found a discrepancy between international cooperation, national and single authorship and across disciplines regarding the productivity and impact (average citation and field-weighted citation impact) of research favouring international collaborations. Moreover, the study discovered that Namibia contributes slightly (0.36%) to the global knowledge share, with less than 0.03% across different. The study has policy implications, recommending for a change of the national science policies to make provisions and encourage national and regional partnerships, as well as strengthening academic–industry collaboration to address local socio-economic developmental issues instead of chasing the international research developmental agenda.

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Acknowledgements

Access to the research data used in this study has been provided by the University of Namibia through its annual subscription to SciVal analytical tool and Scopus indexing databases of Elsevier. In addition, a scientometrics course, funded and provided by the Leiden University, helped to shape this article into a publishable standard.

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  1. University of Namibia: Library, Windhoek, Namibia

    Anna Leonard & Nampa Hamutumwa

  2. Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, Windhoek, Namibia

    Melba Mabuku

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  1. Anna Leonard
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AL contributed to the write up of all the sections, editing and addressed reviewers’ comments of the study. Ms MMS contributed to the write up of the analysis and discussion of the study. Dr NH partly contributed to the write up of the conclusive remarks.

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Correspondence to Anna Leonard.

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Leonard, A., Hamutumwa, N. & Mabuku, M. A bibliometric analysis of how research collaboration influences Namibia’s research productivity and impact. SN Soc Sci 2, 225 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-022-00528-z

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