Mapping research areas and collaboration in the College of Human Sciences, University of South Africa

This paper examines the research output of the College of Human Sciences (CHS) at the University of South Africa (UNISA) with a view to determining the subjects or topics of research focus as well as the pattern and extent of research collaboration within the college. Using informetric approaches and more specifically the content analysis, the study employs various analytical technologies including UCINET for Windows, Microsoft Excel, Pajek, TI and TextStat to analyse data that was extracted from the University’s institutional research management system (IRMA). Results indicate that the research focus of the college is largely on HIV/AIDS; the most productive department was Christian Spirituality; the actual research output of the college is below the expected output; research is largely conducted singly as opposed to collaborative research; and that external research collaboration is common. Conclusions and recommendations for further research are provided

Can informetrics shape biomedical research? A case study of the HIV/AIDS research in sub-Saharan Africa1

Biomedical research is burgeoning as new dangerous diseases and healing methods emerge. Informetrics defined as methods or a research field that uses mathematical and statistical techniques and/or models to examine patterns that show up not only in publications but also in many aspects of life, as long as the patterns deal with information, are widely applied in the evaluation of research performance, among others. Informetrics measures can be divided into descriptive and evaluative measures, commonly referred to as production (publications) count and citation analysis respectively. Whereas the former has continued to gain popularity in sub-Saharan Africa, especially with regard to the assessment of research output of researchers, the latter is rarely applied. The paper focuses on the research evaluation, methods of research evaluation, and the pros and cons of using informetrics techniques to evaluate research performance. Further, the paper addresses the application of informetrics to examine whether or not informetrics can be used to shape biomedical research, with special reference to HIV/AIDS research in sub-Saharan Africa. In that regard, the paper reports on an informetrics perspective of the relatedness of opportunistic diseases and other factors (i.e. risk factors, pre-disposing factors, other sexually transmitted diseases, and the other tropical diseases) to:• Demonstrate the use of informetrics techniques in assessing the relatedness of a disease to the pathogens that are  associated with it.• Reveal that informetrics can be used to support and/or inform medical opinions regarding the relationship/influence of certainfactors/diseases with/on a given disease, e.g. HIV/AIDS.This paper concludes that the application of informetrics, using various techniques or methodologies associated with it, to shape research in different fields/disciplines, is feasible.Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Informetrics, Bibliometrics, Research evaluatio

Collaboration Towards a More Inclusive Society: The Case of South African ICT4D Researchers

In this study, research collaboration in the context of South African Information and Communication for Development (ICT4D) researchers was investigated using a mixed methods approach. South Africa, a country with stark development challenges and on the other hand a well-established ICT infrastructure, provides an appropriate context for ICT4D research. Firstly, a quantitative analysis of South African research collaboration between 2003 and 2016 was conducted to determine the existing research collaboration patterns of South African ICT4D researchers. This is based on the publications in three top ICT4D journals namely the Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries (EJISDC), Information Technologies & International Development (ITID), and Information Technology for Development (ITD). The results show that most co-authored papers were intra-institutional collaborations, with limited inter-institutional collaboration between South African authors or between South African and other African authors. Secondly, interviews were conducted with South African researchers who emerged as inter- and intra-institutional collaborators to gain insight into the technology, drivers and barriers affecting South African research collaboration. We report our findings and discuss the implications for employing research collaboration as a mechanism for addressing inequality and supporting inclusion.School of Computin

Evaluating Research and Impact: A Bibliometric Analysis of Research by the NIH/NIAID HIV/AIDS Clinical Trials Networks

Evaluative bibliometrics uses advanced techniques to assess the impact of scholarly work in the context of other scientific work and usually compares the relative scientific contributions of research groups or institutions. Using publications from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) HIV/AIDS extramural clinical trials networks, we assessed the presence, performance, and impact of papers published in 2006–2008. Through this approach, we sought to expand traditional bibliometric analyses beyond citation counts to include normative comparisons across journals and fields, visualization of co-authorship across the networks, and assess the inclusion of publications in reviews and syntheses. Specifically, we examined the research output of the networks in terms of the a) presence of papers in the scientific journal hierarchy ranked on the basis of journal influence measures, b) performance of publications on traditional bibliometric measures, and c) impact of publications in comparisons with similar publications worldwide, adjusted for journals and fields. We also examined collaboration and interdisciplinarity across the initiative, through network analysis and modeling of co-authorship patterns. Finally, we explored the uptake of network produced publications in research reviews and syntheses. Overall, the results suggest the networks are producing highly recognized work, engaging in extensive interdisciplinary collaborations, and having an impact across several areas of HIV-related science. The strengths and limitations of the approach for evaluation and monitoring research initiatives are discussed

A bibliometric study of human–computer interaction research activity in the Nordic-Baltic Eight countries

Human–computer interaction (HCI) has become an important area for designers and developers worldwide, and research activities set in national cultural contexts addressing local challenges are often needed in industry and academia. This study explored HCI research in the Nordic-Baltic countries using bibliometric methods. The results show that the activity varies greatly across the region with activities dominated by Finland, Sweden, and Denmark, even when adjusting for differences in population size and GDP. Research output variations were larger for the top-tier conferences compared to entry-tier conferences and journals. Locally hosted conferences were associated with local increases in research activity. HCI research longevity appears to be an indicator of research maturity and quantity. HCI researchers typically collaborated either with colleagues within the same institution or with researchers from countries outside the Nordic-Baltic region such as US and the UK. There was less collaboration between national and Nordic-Baltic partners. Collaboration appeared especially prevalent for top-tier conference papers. Top-tier conference papers were also more frequently cited than regional-tier and entry-tier conferences, yet journal articles were cited the most. One implication of this study is that the HCI research activity gaps across the Nordic-Baltic countries should be narrowed by increasing the activity in countries with low research outputs. To achieve this, first-time authors could receive guidance through collaborations with experienced authors in the same institution or other labs around the world. More conferences could also be hosted locally. Furthermore, journals may be more effective than conferences if the goal is to accumulate citations.publishedVersio

Self-Archiving by LIS Schools in South Africa: Practices, Challenges and Opportunities

This article reports findings of an exploratory study of institutional repositories (IRs) in South African institutions of higher learning and more particularly the practices, challenges and opportunities of self-archiving by the library and information science/studies (LIS) scholars. A content analysis of the IRs and a survey involving the Heads of LIS Departments/Schools were conducted in order to find out the existence and number of IRs; the document types indexed in the IRs; publication language; the software used to create the IRs; LIS departments‟ contributions in the IRs; factors motivating self-archiving; challenges faced by LIS scholars in self-archiving; and to determine the LIS scholars attitudes and fears on self-archiving. Results indicate that there are few IRs in Africa as whole; South Africa has the highest number; most IRs are located in institutions of higher learning; some IRs are subject-specific while others are multidisciplinary; a variety of documents are self-archived; LIS scholars are aware of the importance of self-archiving; and LIS scholars face several challenges in self-archiving which include lack of facilities, know-how and institutional support. The article concludes by providing areas for further research and other recommendations.Keywords: Content Analysis, Institutional repositories, Self-Archiving, Webometrics, South Afric

The Protection of Information Bill and Access to Information in South Africa: An Informetric Study of the Media Coverage

Increased prominence and repetition of names of people, issues and organisations through media coverage have the potential to raise public recognition and attitudes towards the subject. The issues regarding access to, and protection of, information are no exception. Massive media coverage of these subjects can increase the public knowledge and raise awareness on the subject of access to, and protection of, information. The purpose of this study is to analyse in a qualitative and quantitative manner, the national print media coverage of legislative issues relating to the access to, and protection of, information in South Africa between 1981 and 2011. The study extracted data from the South African Media database, which is one of the databases hosted by SABINET (South AfricanBibliographic and Information Network). Adopting an advanced  search strategy of combining various search terms resulted in a total of 392 articles which were analyzed using different analytical tools and computer software to obtain frequencies of occurrences of the most common title words, subject terms, and subject categories. Other variables that were analyzed included the most productive newspaper (media). The trend of media coverage of information protection and access (including the media bill) were also investigated in the study. Preliminary findings suggest that the media coverage of the protection of, and access to, information during the period under study was very high. The study concludes by arguing that the 2010 Information Protection Bill has received massive coverage due to the fact that it has a negative impact on the work of the journalists and the information society, in general. Conclusions and recommendations for further research are offered.Keywords: Protection of Information, Access to Information, Freedom of Information, Media Bill, Privacy, South Africa, Print Media, Informetric