Sunday 7 August 2011

Some indicators on Sudanese research output (II)


  Another relevant indicator when trying to capture the state of current research output in Sudan is the author affiliation in research papers published at ISI journals. Even if we should always keep in mind that those papers are just a small fraction of the whole Sudanese research output, the analysis of author affiliation shows again some trends already identified in the coauthorship analysis at the previous post.

The two lines of evolution that appeared in the coauthorship analysis (that is, a major increase in the number of publications in ISI journals and a remarkable diversification of the collaborations from a geographical point of view) do show up again on the analysis by author affiliation.


When checking the list of affiliations in ISI journal papers for the period 2000-2005 (n=672, see the complete list here), the University of Khartoum will emerge as the major publishing institution in Sudan, with over 55% of the total number of published papers. The University of Gezira in Wad Madani is feaured on the second place, with nearly 8% of the total number of publications. A number of European Universities do also appear in top places in the list, such as Edinburgh or Copenhagen. A relevant aspect is the figure shows the 15 institutions that have signed more than 10 papers in the period 2000-2005.

The second affiliation list (2006-2011) shows significant changes (see the complete list here). First, the 19 featured institutions are those with over 20 published papers in ISI journals. Only the top 8 institutions from the 2000-2005 list had published more than 20 papers, so there we have again a proof of the large increase in research top-class publications in Sudan along the last decade.


Again the University of Khartoum leads the classification, and although the percentage of total published papers is slightly lower (presumably due to the increased activity of other high-quality research institutions) it's still publishing well over half the total published research papers in the country.

There is a significant number of other Sudanese Universities featured in top places on this second list, such as the Sudan University of Science and Technology, the University of Gezira, the Al Neelain University, the University of Nyala in South Darfur, the Ahfad University for Women in Omdurman or the University of Juba. Although the World Health Organisation (WHO) is still featured on 16th position and institutions such as the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) are also in the top 15, European universities that appeared in the previous list are no longer featured in this one, being instead replaced by universities such as the Yangzhou University (China) and the University of Putra in Malaysia. This gradual trend towards collaboration with Asian rathen than European universities we saw on the coauthorship analysis is again traceable here. It should be very interesting to confirm his trend for upcoming reports along next years.

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