Water research and collaboration in the Southern African Development Community

This article investigates water-related research in the Southern African Development Community. Water issues are part of the region’s science and technology priorities as 4countries receive less rain than the global average of 860 mm/yr – Botswana with 400 mm/yr, Namibia with 254 mm/yr, South Africa with 497 mm/yr and Zimbabwe with 652 mm/yr. Furthermore, the international literature indicates that joint or internationally coordinated research has the potential to improve the scientific–technical quality of international agreements, prevent conflict and shape the way for appropriate management of the shared resources. Scientometric analysis using the Web of Science database is employed in order to identify the state of water research and collaboration in the SADC region. The Web of Science indexes a defined set of journals worldwide and the South African Government provides incentives/subsidies for publications indexed by this database. The results show that South Africa is the main producer (80%) of research publications in the region. Similarly, in the field of water research South Africa produces 75% of the region’s research. The SADC collaboration matrix in water-related research reveals that there is minimal, if any, collaborative research on the topic. Some seed-level research exists between South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The main funders of research are the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) (acknowledged in 180 publications), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (72 publications), the National Institutes of Health (64 publications) and the Wellcome Trust (60 publications). Policy implications are discussed (e.g. the establishment of SADC Common Water Research Area; research support for the region, etc.).Keywords: bibliometrics, SADC, collaboration, scientometrics, research, Web of Scienc

Coal demand for electricity generation in South Africa : analysis and conditional forecasts to the year 2020

Bibliography: leaves 201-221.The purpose of this thesis is to provide an analytical framework for the examination of the demand for coal for the generation of electricity where more than 50 of the coal produced in the country is consumed. More specifically, the aim of the thesis is to identify the factors influencing the demand for steam-coal, disentangle their interrelationships, and evaluate their relative influence and importance

Scientometric research in South Africa and successful policy instruments

This document provides an analysis of scientometric research in South Africa and it discusses sources of growth in the country’s research literature in general. South Africa is identified to have limited expertise in the field revealed mainly during the last decade. However, the country is ranked 21st in the world among the countries publishing in the journal Scientometrics and it is the only African country with such a standing in the field. Identification of the forces affecting positively the growth in the number of research publications in the country indicates that the primary incentive fuelling the recent growth is the new funding formula in the country which subsidizes the universities by more than R100 000 for each publication that their staff produces. The increase in the number of journals indexed in the ISI Thomson Reuters database and the incorporation of social sciences at the NRF have also affected the growth of research publications, but to a lesser extent.An extended version of a paper presented at the 13th International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics, Durban (South Africa), 4–7 July 2011.http://www.springerlink.com/content/0138-9130/ai201

Competing in a globalising world : international ranking of South African universities

Rankings of higher education institutions are important for students, research administrations, industry and academics. A number of rankings are published internationally, most of which aim to identify the top universities in the world. Developing countries are also interested for relevant rankings that could assist them to develop appropriate higher education policies. In this article we develop a ranking approach based on citations received for articles produced by universities in a variety of scientific disciplines. The approach is relatively simple and has the potential to guide policy. In this context this article identifies the international standing of the South African universities in the various scientific disciplines, compares them with their standing over time and elaborates on the consequences relevant to higher education and science and technology policy

A bibliometric assessment of energy research in South Africa

The results of an effort to identify the performance of energy and fuels research in South Africa during the most recent period (2003–2013) are reported. Bibliometric approaches have been employed in order to assess the field of energy research. Energy research was identified to be improving over time, albeit from a small basis. The field appears to equally emphasise fossil and renewable energy research. Similarly, universities were identified to be producing a subcritical number of energy articles in comparison with international organisations. The relatively small activity in the energy field appears to affect the international collaboration of the field, which is well below the national average. International comparisons in terms of articles per GWH of electricity produced and articles per million population show that South Africa should increase substantially its effort in the field in order to be comparable with other countries. SIGNIFICANCE : • This article makes a unique contribution in scientometrics to the field of energy research in South Africa which, given its multidisciplinary nature, is a generally neglected field of study in South Africa.South African Department of Science and Technologyhttp://www.sajs.co.zaam2017Institute for Technological Innovation (ITI

An assessment of South Africa’s research journals : impact factors, Eigenfactors and structure of editorial boards

Scientific journals play an important role in academic information exchange and their assessment is of interest to science authorities, editors and researchers. The assessment of journals is of particular interest to South African authorities as the country’s universities are partially funded according to the number of publications they produce in accredited journals, such as the Thomson Reuters indexed journals. Scientific publishing in South Africa has experienced a revolution during the last 10 years. Our objective here is to report the performance of the country’s journals during 2009 and 2010 according to a number of metrics (i.e. impact factors, Eigenfactors® and the international character of editorial boards); to identify and compare the impact of the South African journals that have been recently added to the Thomson Reuters' Journal Citation Reports®; and to elaborate on issues related to science policy.http://www.sajs.co.za/am201

International patent applications and innovation in South Africa

BACKGROUND: Experts recommend support to patents for stimulating innovation. Also, the South African government supports patents, in particular, international patents. In this paper it is examined how this strategy can be designed to successfully trigger economic progress AIM: The present South African activities in patents are investigated in this paper and areas identified where an intensification of patenting looks promising for economic progress SETTING: The patent activities since 1985 are analysed and compared to the annual export-import balance from 2009 to 2018, in order to identify starting points for improving economic structures. The data are linked to current suggestions to the National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) for future technologies METHODS: The analysis of patents is performed, using the international patent database PATSTAT, as well as the analysis of the export-import balance at the WITS database of the World Bank RESULTS: The patent analysis reveals a low level of South African domestic patents, with a focus on less complex goods and a stagnation period of 35 years. The data on the export - import balance show negative figures for consumer goods and even more so for capital goods CONCLUSION: Economic progress can be accelerated by stimulating patent and economic activities to produce more complex consumer and capital goods. However, it may be necessary to focus on certain areas at the beginning in order to achieve a sufficient critical mass of competence and international competitiveness. In any case, the support of patents is only successful when it is closely linked to a strategy regarding technology.https://sajems.org/index.php/sajemsInstitute for Technological Innovation (ITI

The development impact of solar cookers : a review of solar cooking impact research in South Africa

Solar cooking is often considered “a solution looking for a problem”. Solar cookers have long been presented as an interesting solution to the world's problem of dwindling fuel wood sources and other environmental problems associated with wood fuel demand for cooking. However, recent GTZ field work in South Africa showed different benefits instead: the use of solar cookers resulted in appreciable fuel and time savings as well as increased energy security for households using commercial fuels. These observations are based on field tests in South Africa that started in 1996 to investigate the social acceptability of solar cookers and to facilitate local production and commercialisation of the technology. Impact studies and use rate studies have been carried out by a number of different organisations since the inception of the project and although commercialisation of the technology has not been achieved to its fullest potential, impact studies indicate that solar cookers have a positive development impact on households through fuel-, energy- and time savings. The article aims to summarise the findings of the various studies and present an overview of use rates and impact data. A variety of factors influence solar cooker use rates, which in turn determine impacts. Some factors are related to the user, some to the environment in which the cooker is used and some to the cooker itself. Ultimately, the data shows that on average, only 17% of solar cooker owners do not use their stoves after purchase and that active solar cooker users utilise their stoves on average for 31% of their cooking incidences. Since the majority of solar stove buyers actually use their stoves and obtain real benefits, this suggests that that solar cookers are indeed not a solution looking for a problem but a solution worth promoting

Energy efficiency in South Africa : a decomposition exercise

Improvement of energy efficiency has been accepted as one of the most cost-effective approaches towards sustainable economic development and reduction of the continuously increasing energy consumption internationally. South Africa, being among the developing countries, is not an exception even though historically low energy prices and the lack of appropriate policies have created an energy intensive economy. This paper examines the factors affecting the trends in energy efficiency in South Africa from 1993 to 2006 and particularly the impact of structural changes and utilisation efficiency of the country's energy intensity. Identifying and understanding the driving forces are necessary ingredients in the development of appropriate policy-making. This paper also provides disaggregation of the energy efficiency trends in the main sectors of the economy. We determine that structural changes of the economy have played an important and negative role in the increasing economy-wide energy efficiency. On the other hand, the energy usage's intensity was a contributing factor to the decreasing trend of energy efficiency. We suggest that differentiated price policies may be required if South Africa is to create an effective energy efficiency policy.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/energynf201

Scientometric impact assessment of a research policy instrument : the case of rating researchers on scientific outputs in South Africa

The influence of the National Research Foundation’s (NRF) rating system on the productivity of the South African social science researchers is investigated scientometrically for the period from 1981 to 2006. Their output performance is mainly indicated by their research publications. Following international best practice in scientometrics as well as the behavioural reinforcement theory, we employed the “before/after control impact (BACI) method”, as well as the well known econometric breakpoint test as proposed by Chow. We use as control group the publications in the field of clinical medicine. The field is not supported by NRF and hence clinical medicine researchers are not affected by the evaluation and rating system. The findings show a positive impact of the NRF programme on the research outputs of social sciences researchers and the implementation of the programme has increased the relevant population of research articles by an average of 24.5% (during the first 5 years) over the expected number of publication without the programme. The results confirm the scientometric findings of other studies (e.g. that of Nederhof) that ratings promulgate research productivity.http://www.springerlink.com/content/0138-9130/nf201