Doctoral Degrees (Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST))

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST)) by Author "Ngwenya, Similo"

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    Research production and research collaboration in Zimbabwe: A bibliometric study in context
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Ngwenya, Similo; Boshoff, Nelius; CREST; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST)
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Several bibliometric studies on research production and research collaboration in Africa have been carried out. Most of the studies use mainstream bibliographic databases (Scopus and Web of Science [WoS]) as theirmain sourcesfor bibliometric analysis. Such studies rarely apply context explicitly in bibliometric analysis. In addition, the studies almost exclusively use data sets at article level, with articles as the unit of analysis. The studies also typically regard international research collaboration as the most important measure ofinternational research participation in the African research landscape, with little attention to additional measuresadapted to the African context. Finally, existing bibliometric studies on Africa rarely use data from other sources (e.g. surveys or interviews) to reflect on research collaboration. The main goal of this dissertation is to address these limitations within a study on research production andcollaborationin Zimbabwe. To achieve the study goal, aquantitative case study of research production and research collaboration in Zimbabwe was conducted. Two quantitative methods were used to illuminate the specific case: a bibliometric analysis and a web-basedsurvey. Data for the bibliometric analysis were obtained from three bibliographic databases: Scopus, WoS and the National Research Database of Zimbabwe (NRDZ). The NRDZ was added to reflect on the value of using a national research database as an additional bibliometric data source. Although bibliometricsis useful for profiling research collaboration in Zimbabwe, it cannot capture the full range of social dynamics experienced by researchers. Therefore, a web-basedsurvey was conducted to explore other aspects and experiences of research collaboration in order to provide more depth and context to the bibliometric analysis. A database of published researchers (obtained from the bibliometric database) and potentially research-active researchers(obtained from institutionalwebsites) was compiled and used to create a distribution list for the web-basedsurvey. Patterns of research production andresearch collaboration of Zimbabwean organisations in the different national sectors and fields, and within four socio-political periods (the context), were profiled. The study also converted an article database into a database of article authors. This enabled the identification of theZimbabwean research workforce. Not only have the research workforcebeen identified, but also the collaboration patterns of such researchers (article authors). The author level analysis made possible a comparison between the percentagesof articles with research collaboration and the percentages of article authors involved in research collaboration. A comparison of research workers in Zimbabwe (as bibliometrically identified) with external information about the number of researchers in Zimbabwe provided additionalinsights.The study’s results have the potential to enrich further bibliometric studies on research collaboration in Africa. It introduced the notionof ‘international national organisations’(INOs), which is a new way of measuring international participation in Africa's research. It has also developed a new classification framework of types of authorship that accommodates the phenomenon of INOs as a form of international research participation. This framework not only accommodates the phenomenon of INOs, but can also be used in other bibliometric studies on research collaboration to studyauthors with dual international affiliations. However, the study’s most important contribution is the integration of two mainstream bibliographic databases (Scopus and WoS) to create a new database of Zimbabwean articles, and its supplementation with articles from the NRDZ. Accordingly, recommendations with a view to both further study and research policywere made.