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

Relationship among research collaboration, number of documents and number of citations. A case study in Spanish computer science production in 2000-2009.

This paper analyzes the relationship among research collaboration, number of documents and number of citations of computer science research activity. It analyzes the number of documents and citations and how they vary by number of authors. They are also analyzed (according to author set cardinality) under different circumstances, that is, when documents are written in different types of collaboration, when documents are published in different document types, when documents are published in different computer science subdisciplines, and, finally, when documents are published by journals with different impact factor quartiles. To investigate the above relationships, this paper analyzes the publications listed in the Web of Science and produced by active Spanish university professors between 2000 and 2009, working in the computer science field. Analyzing all documents, we show that the highest percentage of documents are published by three authors, whereas single-authored documents account for the lowest percentage. By number of citations, there is no positive association between the author cardinality and citation impact. Statistical tests show that documents written by two authors receive more citations per document and year than documents published by more authors. In contrast, results do not show statistically significant differences between documents published by two authors and one author. The research findings suggest that international collaboration results on average in publications with higher citation rates than national and institutional collaborations. We also find differences regarding citation rates between journals and conferences, across different computer science subdisciplines and journal quartiles as expected. Finally, our impression is that the collaborative level (number of authors per document) will increase in the coming years, and documents published by three or four authors will be the trend in computer science literature

COLLABORATION IN SOUTH AFRICAN ENGINEERING RESEARCH

<p>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The production of scientific publications in engineering in South Africa has expanded over the last three decades. Because engineering is an important science, this expansion has implications for the growth and development of the economy. Drawing on a sample range of years of the publications stored in the ISI Web of Knowledge, the engineering publications of South Africans for a 30-year period from 1975-2005 are analysed. This analysis shows that the production of scientific publications in engineering by South African researchers has increased during the analysed period; that the number of researchers per publication has grown; that the number of countries collaborating with South Africa has increased; and that the number of sole-authored papers has decreased. Domestic collaboration (between researchers within South Africa) has decreased, while international collaboration has grown considerably. The key objective of the paper is to find out whether the production of publications is related to the level of collaboration, and to see how collaboration can be regressed from other known variables. It is clear from the study that collaboration is a decisive factor in the production of scientific publications in engineering in South Africa.</p><p>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING Die produksie van wetenskaplike publikasies in ingenieurswese in Suid-Afrika het oor die afgelope drie dekades toegeneem. Aangesien ingenieurswese ‘n belangrike wetenskap is, beïnvloed dié toename die groei en ontwikkeling van die ekonomie. Deur na ‘n monster van voormalige publikasies op die “ISI Web of Science” te kyk, is die publikasies in ingenieurswese deur Suid-Afrikaners oor ‘n 30 jaar periode van 1975-2005 geanaliseer. Die analise toon dat die produksie van wetenskaplike publikasies in ingenieurswese deur Suid-Afrikaanse navorsers toegeneem het oor dié tydperk; dat die aantal navorsers per publikasie gegroei het; dat daar ‘n toename was in die hoeveelheid lande wat met Suid-Afrika saamgewerk het; en dat die aantal artikels van enkelouteurs verminder het. Plaaslike samewerking (tussen Suid-Afrikaanse navorsers) het afgeneem, maar internasionale samewerking het aansienlik toegeneem. Die hoofdoelwit van die artikel is om te bepaal of die produksie van publikasies verband hou met die vlak van samewerking, en om vas te stel hoe samewerking vanaf ander bekende veranderlikes terugbereken kan word. Uit die studie blyk dit duidelik dat samewerking ‘n beslissende faktor is ten opsigte van die produksie van wetenskaplike publikasies in ingenieurswese in Suid-Afrika.</p&gt

THE VISIBILITY OF ENGINEERING RESEARCH IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1975-2005

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Engineering as a branch of science has a crucial role in the growth of the economy. The growth and development of engineering is therefore highly relevant. One way to understand this is to examine the characteristics of the scientific knowledge produced in the field of engineering. Drawing on the publications in engineering from the ISI Web of Science over the last three decades, this paper looks at the visibility and importance of engineering research in South Africa. The visibility of research publications is studied in terms of the number of citations a publication receives. The analysis shows that the visibility of South African engineering research is determined by the number of authors involved in the production of a paper, the presence of international collaboration, the degree of collaboration, and the journals in which the papers are published. Engineering research in South Africa, compared with that of all subjects, is clearly growing. But the visibility of South African engineering publications, in comparison with all other subjects, has been diminishing in recent years.<br /><br />AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Ingenieurswese as ‘n vertakking van die wetenskap speel ‘n kardinale rol in die groei van die ekonomie. Die groei en ontwikkeling van die ingenieurswese is dus uiters relevant. Een manier om dit te verstaan, is om die eienskappe van die wetenskaplike kennis wat op die terrein van die ingenieurswese geproduseer word te ondersoek. Deur na die publikasies in ingenieurswese op die “ISI Web of Science” te kyk oor die afgelope drie dekades, bestudeer hierdie artikel die sigbaarheid en belangrikheid van navorsing in die ingenieurswese in Suid- Afrika. Die sigbaarheid van navorsingspublikasies word bestudeer aan die hand van die aantal sitasies wat ‘n gepubliseerde artikel ontvang. Die ontleding toon dat die sigbaarheid van Suid-Afrikaanse ingenieurswese-navorsing bepaal word deur die aantal outeurs betrokke by die artikel, die teenwoordigheid van internasionale samewerking, die mate van samewerking asook die joernale waarin dit gepubliseer is. Navorsing in die ingenieurswese in Suid-Afrika is duidelik aan die groei in vergelyking met ander vakgebiede. Daarteenoor, neem die sigbaarheid egter af wanneer dit met ander vakgebiede vergelyk word.<p> </p&gt

Collaboration paradox: Scientific productivity, the Internet, and problems of research in developing areas

(Ghana). The approach taken in the analysis was developed in a series of meetings held at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara during this same period of time. This group of ‘Bobcows ’ was convened by Edward Hackett to examine the process of scientific collaboration in a variety of forms. We based the present work on similar analyses by Barry Bozeman, Sooho Lee, John Walsh and Nancy Mahoney. However, our gratitude is first and foremost to the outstanding teams of postgraduate interviewers from Loyola College of Social Sciences (Kerala), th

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