Statistics: publications 2013-2018

Only the African countries with links to at least one publication in astronomy between 2013-2018 have been included in the charts. If an article included authors linked to more than one African country, the publication was counted for each of those countries.

REGIONAL BREAKDOWN 

  • Egypt is by far the main player in astronomy in North Africa
  • However, the gap between Egypt and the other Arab countries has decreased over the past two years
  • Libya’s contributions lag very much behind, with only three publications over the past six years

 

 

 

 

 

  • Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, leads in astronomical output in the Western region
  • Benin is second, although its output in publications has decreased over the past four years
  • Cape Verde, Guinea, Togo, Niger and Ghana have a low output, with each country counting only a few publications over the time period

 

 

 

 

 

  • East Africa presents a more homogenous and evenly distributed output of astronomical publications among countries; this is because the number of astronomers is also more evenly distributed around the region
  • Notably, Kenya’s yearly contributions have regularly decreased since data are available (2013); all other countries, by contrast, have maintained an almost constant output throughout the period

 

 

 

 

  • Central Africa presents the lowest output in astronomical publications of the whole continent
  • Relatively speaking, Cameroon has a clear dominance in publications over its neighbours 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Southern Africa has the most heterogenous distribution of publications amongst all regions
  • South Africa boasts by far the most contributions – not only in the region, but in the whole continent: the country’s articles account for 65% of total astronomical publications in Africa between 2013-2018

 

 

 

 

 

REGIONAL AGGREGATES 

  • The big gap between Southern Africa and the other regions is almost uniquely the result of South Africa’s sheer dominance in output: the country accounts for 65% of all astronomical publications in the continent over the past six years (2826 articles out of 4317)