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The Great Commission to LIS workers: ‘Go ye therefore and make researchers’Dr. O.B Onyancha
Dept of Information Science
UNISA
Contents Introduction Sources of data Results and discussion
Research output Which is the most researched, SSH or NSE? Which subject/discipline category is most researched? Which category of researchers is most prolific?
Research growth in SA What is the trend of research in SA?
NRF rating of researchers Does NRF rating of researchers reflect the pattern of research output discussed
above? What does NRF’s funding of the research focus areas portend for the country?
How much money has each of the focus areas received since 2001? How many grant applications have been funded in each focus area since 2001?
DST’s support in R&D in NSE & SSH, 2001-2005Where is/are LIS research/researchers in SA?
Conclusions and recommendations
In South Africa, “transformation” has become synonymous with the process of political, socio-economic and cultural change associated with the end of apartheid and the concomitant realignment of various societal sectors to make it inclusive of all South Africans, to rectify the injustices of the past and to reduce the inequalities brought about by our history of racial discrimination.(Source: The FW De Klerk Foundation, 2006)
Transformation = Transition = Change Used in:
Political rhetoric Academic discourse National legislation Government policies
Initiatives Black Economic Empowerment Equity Employment Merger of institutions of higher learning
Transformation in South Africa
Transformation in research in SA Transformation is increasingly being applied to Research too, e.g.
NRF cross-cutting corporate strategic priorities Redressing and ensuring equity in race and gender Thuthuka programme – established in 2001
Research Initiative for Black Academics (REDIBA) - support black researchers who were in former white institutions
Women in research (WiR) and Researchers in training (RiT) - support academics in attaining their doctoral
qualifications MRC reports an increase of research output by black researchers – “11% of
these publications have black Africans as primary authors, suggesting that transformation is taking place, albeit too slowly” (MRC, 2006)
Academic institutions, too, conform to equity policies when awarding grants to researchers Masters and Doctoral Support Programme – UNISA
Subsidiary of NRF Thuthuka programme Supports Blacks, Women and Physically challenged persons
Purpose of this presentation
To provide insight into the current research trends in South Africa using different platforms, with special reference to LIS research Compare Social Sciences and Natural Sciences research
Growth of publications, 1981-2007 Most productive researchers and subject categories NRF Rating of researchers in SSH and NSE NRF funding of focus areas – grant applications Government support for research and development
In the process, the paper may shed light on the impact of transformation on research in South Africa
Years covered
1981-2007
Data collected:1. Research output by
• Year of publication
• Most researched fields/subjects
• Most productive researchers and their specialties
• Total cites of most researched fields
Years covered
1986-2005
Data collected:1. Yearly research
output by subject field/discipline
SABINET’s C&CR
Years covered
2001 – 2005
Data collected:1. Amount allocated to
different focus areas
2. Number of registered grants per year
Years covered
2007
Data collected:1. Name of rated
researcher
2. Field of research
3. Specialties (sub-fields)
Years covered
2001, 2003, 2004, 2005
Data collected:1. GERD
2. GERD by field
3. Research indicators
SA DST – R&D Surveys
Data Analysis tools
ISI analysis platform Analyses by author, country,
document type, institution, language, publication year, source, subject category
Compiles frequencies
Bibexcel uses text format files Generates frequencies of occurrence
of words/phrases Can be used for citation analyses
(e.g. cocitation analysis, etc)
Research indicators in South AfricaIndicator
2001-2002
2003-2004
2004-2005
Gross domestic expenditure on R&D – GERD (R millions) 7488.1 10082.6 12010.0
GERD as a percentage of GDPa 0.76 0.81 0.87
Total R&D personnel (FTE)b,c 21195 25185 29692
Total researchers (FTE)b,c 14182 14129 17910
Total researchers per 1000 total employment (FTE)b,c,d 3.1 2.2 1.6
Total R&D personnel per 1000 total employment (FTE)b,c,d 4.6 3.9 2.6
Civil GERD as a percentage of GDP 0.71 0.72 0.8
Total researchers (headcount)c 26913 30703 36979
Women researchers as a percentage of total researchersc 36 38 38.3
Source: Republic of South Africa. Dept of Science and Technology, 2002-2006
a The 0.76% for 2001/02 is as reported in the 2001/02 R&D Survey Report and is not based on revised GDP figures.b FTE = Full Time Equivalentc Following OECD practice, doctoral students are included as researchers.d Changes in the methodology used by Statistics South Africa in the Survey of Employment and Earnings have resulted in a 39% increase in the total number of employees reported for the formal non-agricultural sectors between March 2002 and March 2004.
Year of Publication
No of articles
% of Total
Change in no. of articles % Change
Cumulative articles
% of total cumulative
Change in cumulative %
1981 1997 2.21% 1997 2.21
1982 2107 2.34% 110 5.51 4104 4.55 2.34
1983 2225 2.47% 118 5.60 6329 7.02 2.47
1984 2292 2.54% 67 3.01 8621 9.56 2.54
1985 2575 2.85% 283 12.35 11196 12.41 2.85
1986 2937 3.26% 362 14.06 14133 15.67 3.26
1987 3291 3.65% 354 12.05 17424 19.32 3.65
1988 3149 3.49% -142 -4.31 20573 22.81 3.49
1989 2925 3.24% -224 -7.11 23498 26.05 3.24
1990 3011 3.34% 86 2.94 26509 29.39 3.34
1991 3189 3.54% 178 5.91 29698 32.93 3.54
1992 3095 3.43% -94 -2.95 32793 36.36 3.43
1993 3068 3.40% -27 -0.87 35861 39.76 3.40
1994 3092 3.43% 24 0.78 38953 43.19 3.43
SA research output in ISI, 1981-1994
Year of Publication
No of articles
% of Total
Change in no. of articles
% Change
Cumulative articles
% of total cumulative
Change in cumulative
%
1995 3225 3.58% 133 4.30 42178 46.76 3.58
1996 3412 3.78% 187 5.80 45590 50.54 3.78
1997 3566 3.95% 154 4.51 49156 54.50 3.95
1998 3632 4.03% 66 1.85 52788 58.53 4.03
1999 3791 4.20% 159 4.38 56579 62.73 4.20
2000 3600 3.99% -191 -5.04 60179 66.72 3.99
2001 3766 4.18% 166 4.61 63945 70.89 4.18
2002 3977 4.41% 211 5.60 67922 75.30 4.41
2003 3928 4.35% -49 -1.23 71850 79.66 4.35
2004 4265 4.73% 337 8.58 76115 84.39 4.73
2005 4486 4.97% 221 5.18 80601 89.36 4.97
2006 5087 5.64% 601 13.40 85688 95.00 5.64
2007 4509 5.00% -578 -11.36 90197 100.00 5.00
SA research output in ISI, 1995-2007
Research output in apartheid and post-apartheid SA
Papers % of Total Years Papers/year
1981-1994 38953 43.19 14 2782
1995-2007 51244 56.81 13 3660
TOTAL 90197 100.00 27 3341
y = 2203.5e0.0279x
y = 90.526x + 2073.3
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
1981
198219
8319
8419
8519
8619
8719
8819
8919
9019
9119
9219
9319
9419
9519
9619
9719
9819
9920
0020
0120
0220
0320
0420
0520
0620
07
Articles
Expon. (Articles)
Linear (Articles)
Growth of publications, 1981-2007
SCI SSCIRatio of
SSCI to SCI A&HCIRatio of
A&HCI to SCI
1981 1905 164 11.62 32 59.53
1982 1993 169 11.79 54 36.91
1983 2080 196 10.61 61 34.10
1984 2143 178 12.04 69 31.06
1985 2385 218 10.94 82 29.09
1986 2703 234 11.55 105 25.74
1987 3070 215 14.28 90 34.11
1988 2934 230 12.76 90 32.60
1989 2719 193 14.09 82 33.16
1990 2747 234 11.74 111 24.75
1991 2892 296 9.77 114 25.37
1992 2847 232 12.27 132 21.57
1993 2768 274 10.10 111 24.94
1994 2777 249 11.15 132 21.04
Performance of SA in NSE, SSH and A&H, 1981-1994
SCI SSCIRatio of
SSCI to SCI A&HCIRatio of
A&HCI to SCI
1995 2866 348 8.24 114 25.14
1996 3030 358 8.46 121 25.04
1997 3194 331 9.65 129 24.76
1998 3264 357 9.14 120 27.20
1999 3453 329 10.50 109 31.68
2000 3225 384 8.40 117 27.56
2001 3408 364 9.36 116 29.38
2002 3526 453 7.78 130 27.12
2003 3525 448 7.87 140 25.18
2004 3787 512 7.40 134 28.26
2005 3981 575 6.92 143 27.84
2006 4446 735 6.05 156 28.50
2007 4038 606 6.66 123 32.83
TOTAL 81706 8882 9.20 2917 28.01
Performance of SA in NSE, SSH and A&H, 1994-2007
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
Year of Publication
No
. o
f P
ap
ers
SCI SSCI A&HCI NRF NSE NRF SSH
Coverage of SA research papers in ISI vs NRF Rating of researchers – NSE and SSH
1986-1988
1989-1991
1992-1994
1995-1997
1998-2000
2001-2003
2004-2006
TOTAL
Social Sciences 868 1180 1447 1371 1613 1609 1550 9638
Humanities 1021 1194 1291 1587 1518 1340 1322 9273
Natural sciences 340 398 434 445 456 505 555 3133
Formal Sciences 301 382 450 509 456 447 546 3091
Professions and Applied Sciences
Education 1075 1400 1521 1518 1675 1639 1701 10529
Health sciences 725 885 1044 1102 1139 1495 1553 7943
Business 956 875 797 1315 1189 1243 1518 7893
Engineering 844 912 871 948 893 983 1146 6597
Agriculture 318 377 320 323 429 619 611 2997
Law 198 249 291 358 462 582 666 2806
Env. Sci. & Forestry 67 96 137 271 309 459 473 1812
Social work 187 228 282 229 241 218 236 1621
Library & Info Sci. 55 68 89 83 107 194 189 785
Projects, theses and dissertations in C&CR
KEY
AuthorNo of publications %
Subject specializations NRFRated?
VANSTADEN, J 587 0.65% Plant Sciences, Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology, Horticulture Y
WINGFIELD, MJ 384 0.43% Mycology, Plant Sciences, Forestry Y
NOAKES, TD 269 0.30% Sport Sciences, Physiology, Medicine (General & Internal) Y
MOODLEY, J 248 0.28% Obstetrics & Gynecology, Medicine (General & Internal), Surgery Y
COVILLE, NJ 211 0.23% Chemistry Y
STEIN, DJ 211 0.23% Psychiatry, Neurosciences Y
OPIE, LH 198 0.22% Cardiac & Cardiovascular System, Pharmacology & Pharmacy Y
ANDERSON, R 198 0.22% Pharmacology & Pharmacy, Immunology, Infectious Diseases N
CROUS, PW 198 0.22% Mycology, Plant Sciences, Agronomy N
SELLSCHOP, JPF 189 0.21% Nuclear Physics, Nuclear Science & Technology N
NASSIMBENI, LR 178 0.20% Crystallography, Chemistry Y
JACOBS, P 177 0.20% Hematology, Medicine (General & Internal), Oncology N
YAVIN, Y 176 0.20%Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Operations Research & Management Science
N
MILLAR, RP 175 0.19%Endocrinology &Metabolism, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Cell Biology
N
LETCHER, TM 173 0.19% Physical Chemistry, Thermodynamics, Chemical Engineering N
WINGFIELD, BD 173 0.19% Mycology, Plant Sciences, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Y
HORAK, IG 172 0.19% Veterinary Sciences, Entomology, Zoology Y
CHOWN, SL 171 0.19% Ecology, Entomology, Biodiversity Conservation Y
KILKENNY, D 169 0.19% Astronomy & Astrophysics N
COOVADIA, HM 168 0.19% Medicine (General & Internal), Pediatrics, Infectious Diseases N
Top 10 SA LIS authors in ISI indexes
• Percentage contribution of most productive LIS author = 0.02 (N=90197)
• All top LIS authors = Academics (Lecturers)
• Number of NRF rated LIS researchers = 6
• No non-academic LIS worker is rated by NRF. All NRF rated LIS workers – hold title of Professor
Author Articles Other subject categories TC AV cites
h-index
NRF Rated
VAN BRAKEL, PA 16 Computer science, information systems 25 1.56 4 Y
BRITZ, JJ 10 Computer science, information systems 23 2.30 3 N
DU TOIT, ASA 10 Computer science, information systems 10 2.20 1 N
FOURIE, I 9 Computer science, information systems 19 2.11 3 N
LOR, PJ 9 Computer science, information systems 17 1.89 3 N
NASSIMBENI, M 9 Educational & educational research 9 1.0 2 Y
SNYMAN, R 9 Computer science, information systems 2 0.22 1 N
POURIS, A 8 Computer science, interdisciplinary applications; Computer science, information systems
10 1.25 2 N
OCHOLLA, DN 7 Computer science, information systems 12 1.71 2 Y
MYERS, G 6 3 0.50 1 N
Rank Subject category Articles TC Av cites h-index
1 Medicine, General & Internal 6479 54012 8.34 80
2 Plant Sciences 4897 34637 7.07 51
3 Zoology 3342 26055 7.80 47
4 Ecology 3329 46059 13.84 67
5 Multidisciplinary Sciences 2814 30595 10.87 77
6 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology 2680 36592 13.65 67
7 Veterinary Sciences 2619 16776 6.41 39
8 Surgery 2537 23999 9.46 57
9 Marine & Freshwater Biology 2450 33848 13.82 57
10 Environmental Sciences 2285 22538 9.86 51
11 Astronomy & Astrophysics 2290 37054 16.18 71
12 Water resources 2077 13466 6.48 42
13 Pharmacology & Pharmacy 1844 19830 10.75 50
14 Chemistry, Multidisciplinary 1710 13815 8.08 45
15 Geosciences, Multidisciplinary 1653 17340 10.49 50
16 Chemistry, Physical 1575 14442 9.17 39
17 Microbiology 1553 22560 14.53 54
18 Entomology 1539 8379 5.44 28
19 Public, environmental & occupational health 1519 13778 9.07 42
20 Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology 1487 18559 12.40 52
127 Library & Information Science 268 588 2.19 10
NRF rated researchers’ fields
Fields = 249
242020
191818181818
1615
14141414
13131313131313
121212121212
1111111111111111
101010101010101010101010101010
Biomedical sciencesTaxonomy
BiodiversityMolecular biology
Behavioural ecologyPlant physiology
Conservation biologySystematics
Science educationMicrobiologyBiochemistry
EpidemiologyBiotechnologyBiogeography
EvolutionSolid state physicsConstitutional law
EcologyPopulation genetics
EnzymologyGender studies
Evolutionary biologyConservation
KineticsEntomology
EnvironmentalMathematical modelling
OptimisationLiterary theory
HerpetologyMathematics education
Nature conservationOrnithology
Analytical chemistryHuman rights
Science and technologyFunctional analysis
Computational chemistryMaterials science
EcophysiologyEnvironmental management
Medicinal chemistryPlant pathology
Numerical analysisBioinformatics
Conservation ecologyEnvironmental healthEvolutionary ecology
EthnobotanyBiosystematics
Molecular and cell biology
Top specialties of NRF rated researchers
Except for:
1. Human Rights
2. Literary theory
3. Gender studies
4. Constitutional law
ALL are natural and/or formal sciences
0
5000000
10000000
15000000
20000000
25000000
30000000
35000000
40000000
Year
Am
ou
nt
in R
and
s
A 20597210 26372330 30763020 34704291 35249269
B 13850420 16268880 19586650 23562937 23126191
C 16387670 18425850 17933537 18134051 21680072
D 8293380 6384280 5046270 7972471 35080233
E 4922640 8218010 10831770 16994099 16001626
F 4503280 7082780 12862280 11651996 14388414
G 4380080 4758410 3871310 4053902 3779757
H 3441100 2683720 2999250 3804000 4526850
I 779000 4304270 1690000 1300119 1459504
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
KEY NRF funding by focus area, 2001-2005
A = 147686120
B = 96395078
C = 92561180
D = 62776634
E = 56968145
F = 50488750
G = 20843459
H = 17454920
I = 9532893
A = 230.6
B = 151.2
C = 146.6
E = 107.2
F = 88.0
G = 68.6
D = 63.2
H = 37.0
I = 14.2
210219
259 251
75
184
150162
185
74
166155 151
187
51
91
116132
146
6979
102 109
8173 73 70 66 6173 70
4663 64
38 35 39 37
9 16 15 1120
214
36
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Year
No
. of
Gra
nts
A B C E F G D H I
KEY
Total number of grants per focus area
Average number of grants per focus area
Average amount per grant per focus area
KEY
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 TOTAL
C 61688.77 97024.38 183746.86 176545.39 235875.64 147197.52
G 86555.56 269016.88 112666.67 118192.64 72975.20 134266.10
B 71342.61 104025.44 106193.82 155909.17 197550.94 129473.06
F 96248.64 125582.52 140470.41 133993.40 140435.33 128088.57
I 184672.27 88417.83 130577.67 145450.23 125006.44 127506.72
E 221455.00 110999.10 115700.24 120093.05 115936.21 126277.19
A 162615.29 70156.92 43502.33 60397.51 240275.57 117120.59
H 90555.26 76677.71 83312.50 97538.46 122347.30 94350.92
D 60001.10 67977.29 84158.91 64347.65 59058.70 65960.31
TOTAL 114134.29 102271.14 116154.11 123163.17 150476.66 122370.88
9.37.4 7.2
10.2
13.514.8
20.721.8
20.8
10.711.8 12.4
13.7
10.5
12.8
20.2
24.823.9
15.2
10.28.1
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
2001 2003 2004
Year
Pe
rce
nta
ge
of
GE
RD
Agricultural sciences
Medical and Health Sciences
Natural Sciences
Social sciences andhumanities
Information, computer &communication technologies
Engineering sciences
Applied sciences &technologies
Expenditure on R&D by major research field
Source: Republic of South Africa. Dept of Science and Technology, 2002-2006
Conclusions & recommendations Conclusions
Research output in South Africa has increased linearly since 1981 No major leaps (upwards nor downwards) witnessed – two periods Research in natural and engineering sciences is dominant Scientists in NSE are the most prolific Similarities between South African research output and NRF rating Funding towards research is skewed in favour of NSE
NRF Government
NRF rated researchers’ areas of research interest were the most researched as shown in ISI
NRF pattern of funding may imply continued dominance of NSE for as long as few SSH researchers are rated
Government funding pattern – dominance of NSE More black researchers – Equity in research Impact of the transformation initiatives on research in SA?
Hard to tell – Too early to conclude? Whether negatively or positively – Eyes of the beholder?
Recommendations Growth of social science research output [including LIS research]
Multidisciplinary research? Research within the focus/niche areas – expansion of areas Research within the Millennium Development Goals More funding, Perhaps!
Visibility (influence/impact) Collaboration with international scholars Presentation and/or publications of research findings both nationally and
internationally Application for NRF rating – Researcher visibility?
Further research Impact of funding on research How and to what extent rating of researchers affect research
output? How pre-determined focus areas affect research
Are focus areas limiting in any way? Other factors that influence high productivity in NSE research
For example, Do the number of researchers in a discipline matter?
Conclusions & recommendations
Contact details:Dr. OB OnyanchaUniversity of South AfricaDept of Information SciencePO Box 392 UNISA 0003Email: onyanob@unisa.ac.zaTel: +27 72 356 5036
COMMENTS, QUESTIONS?
Go therefore LIS researchers…
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