Mapping collaboration and impact of library and information science research in sub-Saharan Africa, from 1995 to 2016

Date13 August 2018
Published date13 August 2018
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/LM-06-2017-0059
Pages349-363
AuthorOmwoyo Bosire Onyancha
Subject MatterLibrary & information science,Librarianship/library management,HR in libraries,Library strategy,Library promotion
Mapping collaboration and impact
of library and information science
research in sub-Saharan Africa,
from 1995 to 2016
Omwoyo Bosire Onyancha
Department of Information Science, University of South Africa,
Pretoria, South Africa
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to map and visualise collaboration patterns and citation impact of the
library and information science research in sub-Saharan Africa between 1995 and 2016.
Design/methodology/approach Datawere extractedfrom the Thomson Reuterscitation indexesusing the
nameof the country in an advancedsearch platform.The search waslimited to documentsdesignated asarticles.
Data were analysed using the VosViewer software to obtain networkmaps and frequencies of occurrence.
Findings The findings reveal that publication and citation impact of LIS research in sub-Saharan Africa
has continued to grow since 1995; foreign countries have immensely contributed to the evolution and
development of LIS research in the region; research collaboration occurs both regionally and internationally,
with the latter being the most prominent; South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are the most active participants in
LIS research collaboration in the region; and that on average, international collaboration in LIS research in
sub-Saharan Africa attracts more citations than other types of collaboration.
Research limitations/implications The study was limited to the data indexed in the Web of Science
citation indexes and focused on sub-Saharan African countries only.
Practical implications Collaboration is said to lead to increased research output and impact, hence the
need for sub-Saharan African researchers and institutions to initiate strategies that will create conducive
environments for research collaboration. There is need for collaborative ventures between LIS practitioners
and educators as well as increased cooperation among LIS schools within and outside of sub-Saharan African
countries. Partnerships involving students and programmes such as research fellowship, post-doctoral
researchers as well as visiting researchers may complement any existing strategies that can be pursued to
increase collaborative research in LIS in the region.
Originality/value The paper, while drawing lessons from previous papers, adopted a variety of
techniques to examine collaboration patterns and impact of LIS research over a longer period of publication
time, i.e. 1995 to 2016, and a larger geographic scope.
Keywords Research, Informetrics, Library and information science, Research impact, sub-Saharan Africa,
Research collaboration
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Collaboration is widely recognised in research as one of the important enablers of sharing
and transferring knowledge among researchers; generating new insights or perspectives
that individuals, working on their own, would not have grasped; providing intellectual
companionship; widening a researchers contact network in the scientific community; and
enhancing the potential visibility of the work (Katz and Martin, 1997). It is no wonder
therefore that Ibukun (1976) and Brock (1976), while noting that the scientific community in
most African countries was very small, partly attributed the situation to non- or limited
collaboration among scientists and, subsequently, proposed regional collaboration in
science production as a solution to improve the status of science and development in the
region. The strong recommendations from various authors, for research collaboration, stem
from the belief that collaboration not only increases the volume of research but also its
citation impact (Katz and Hicks, 1997; Sooryamoorthy, 2009). Katz and Hicks (1997) and
Library Management
Vol. 39 No. 6/7, 2018
pp. 349-363
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/LM-06-2017-0059
Received 13 June 2017
Revised 1 October 2017
Accepted 10 April 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
349
Impact of LIS
research in
sub-Saharan
Africa

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