The Great Commission to LIS workers: ‘Go ye therefore and make researchers’Dr. O.B Onyancha

Dept of Information Science

UNISA

Contents Introduction Sources of data Results and discussion

Research output Which is the most researched, SSH or NSE? Which subject/discipline category is most researched? Which category of researchers is most prolific?

Research growth in SA What is the trend of research in SA?

NRF rating of researchers Does NRF rating of researchers reflect the pattern of research output discussed

above? What does NRF’s funding of the research focus areas portend for the country?

How much money has each of the focus areas received since 2001? How many grant applications have been funded in each focus area since 2001?

DST’s support in R&D in NSE & SSH, 2001-2005Where is/are LIS research/researchers in SA?

Conclusions and recommendations

In South Africa, “transformation” has become synonymous with the process of political, socio-economic and cultural change associated with the end of apartheid and the concomitant realignment of various societal sectors to make it inclusive of all South Africans, to rectify the injustices of the past and to reduce the inequalities brought about by our history of racial discrimination.(Source: The FW De Klerk Foundation, 2006)

Transformation = Transition = Change Used in:

Political rhetoric Academic discourse National legislation Government policies

Initiatives Black Economic Empowerment Equity Employment Merger of institutions of higher learning

Transformation in South Africa

Transformation in research in SA Transformation is increasingly being applied to Research too, e.g.

NRF cross-cutting corporate strategic priorities Redressing and ensuring equity in race and gender Thuthuka programme – established in 2001

Research Initiative for Black Academics (REDIBA) - support black researchers who were in former white institutions

Women in research (WiR) and Researchers in training (RiT) - support academics in attaining their doctoral

qualifications MRC reports an increase of research output by black researchers – “11% of

these publications have black Africans as primary authors, suggesting that transformation is taking place, albeit too slowly” (MRC, 2006)

Academic institutions, too, conform to equity policies when awarding grants to researchers Masters and Doctoral Support Programme – UNISA

Subsidiary of NRF Thuthuka programme Supports Blacks, Women and Physically challenged persons

Purpose of this presentation

To provide insight into the current research trends in South Africa using different platforms, with special reference to LIS research Compare Social Sciences and Natural Sciences research

Growth of publications, 1981-2007 Most productive researchers and subject categories NRF Rating of researchers in SSH and NSE NRF funding of focus areas – grant applications Government support for research and development

In the process, the paper may shed light on the impact of transformation on research in South Africa

Years covered

1981-2007

Data collected:1. Research output by

• Year of publication

• Most researched fields/subjects

• Most productive researchers and their specialties

• Total cites of most researched fields

Years covered

1986-2005

Data collected:1. Yearly research

output by subject field/discipline

SABINET’s C&CR

Years covered

2001 – 2005

Data collected:1. Amount allocated to

different focus areas

2. Number of registered grants per year

Years covered

2007

Data collected:1. Name of rated

researcher

2. Field of research

3. Specialties (sub-fields)

Years covered

2001, 2003, 2004, 2005

Data collected:1. GERD

2. GERD by field

3. Research indicators

SA DST – R&D Surveys

Data Analysis tools

ISI analysis platform Analyses by author, country,

document type, institution, language, publication year, source, subject category

Compiles frequencies

Bibexcel uses text format files Generates frequencies of occurrence

of words/phrases Can be used for citation analyses

(e.g. cocitation analysis, etc)

Research indicators in South AfricaIndicator

2001-2002

2003-2004

2004-2005

Gross domestic expenditure on R&D – GERD (R millions) 7488.1 10082.6 12010.0

GERD as a percentage of GDPa 0.76 0.81 0.87

Total R&D personnel (FTE)b,c 21195 25185 29692

Total researchers (FTE)b,c 14182 14129 17910

Total researchers per 1000 total employment (FTE)b,c,d 3.1 2.2 1.6

Total R&D personnel per 1000 total employment (FTE)b,c,d 4.6 3.9 2.6

Civil GERD as a percentage of GDP 0.71 0.72 0.8

Total researchers (headcount)c 26913 30703 36979

Women researchers as a percentage of total researchersc 36 38 38.3

Source: Republic of South Africa. Dept of Science and Technology, 2002-2006

a The 0.76% for 2001/02 is as reported in the 2001/02 R&D Survey Report and is not based on revised GDP figures.b FTE = Full Time Equivalentc Following OECD practice, doctoral students are included as researchers.d Changes in the methodology used by Statistics South Africa in the Survey of Employment and Earnings have resulted in a 39% increase in the total number of employees reported for the formal non-agricultural sectors between March 2002 and March 2004.

Year of Publication

No of articles

% of Total

Change in no. of articles % Change

Cumulative articles

% of total cumulative

Change in cumulative %

1981 1997 2.21% 1997 2.21

1982 2107 2.34% 110 5.51 4104 4.55 2.34

1983 2225 2.47% 118 5.60 6329 7.02 2.47

1984 2292 2.54% 67 3.01 8621 9.56 2.54

1985 2575 2.85% 283 12.35 11196 12.41 2.85

1986 2937 3.26% 362 14.06 14133 15.67 3.26

1987 3291 3.65% 354 12.05 17424 19.32 3.65

1988 3149 3.49% -142 -4.31 20573 22.81 3.49

1989 2925 3.24% -224 -7.11 23498 26.05 3.24

1990 3011 3.34% 86 2.94 26509 29.39 3.34

1991 3189 3.54% 178 5.91 29698 32.93 3.54

1992 3095 3.43% -94 -2.95 32793 36.36 3.43

1993 3068 3.40% -27 -0.87 35861 39.76 3.40

1994 3092 3.43% 24 0.78 38953 43.19 3.43

SA research output in ISI, 1981-1994

Year of Publication

No of articles

% of Total

Change in no. of articles

% Change

Cumulative articles

% of total cumulative

Change in cumulative

%

1995 3225 3.58% 133 4.30 42178 46.76 3.58

1996 3412 3.78% 187 5.80 45590 50.54 3.78

1997 3566 3.95% 154 4.51 49156 54.50 3.95

1998 3632 4.03% 66 1.85 52788 58.53 4.03

1999 3791 4.20% 159 4.38 56579 62.73 4.20

2000 3600 3.99% -191 -5.04 60179 66.72 3.99

2001 3766 4.18% 166 4.61 63945 70.89 4.18

2002 3977 4.41% 211 5.60 67922 75.30 4.41

2003 3928 4.35% -49 -1.23 71850 79.66 4.35

2004 4265 4.73% 337 8.58 76115 84.39 4.73

2005 4486 4.97% 221 5.18 80601 89.36 4.97

2006 5087 5.64% 601 13.40 85688 95.00 5.64

2007 4509 5.00% -578 -11.36 90197 100.00 5.00

SA research output in ISI, 1995-2007

Research output in apartheid and post-apartheid SA

Papers % of Total Years Papers/year

1981-1994 38953 43.19 14 2782

1995-2007 51244 56.81 13 3660

TOTAL 90197 100.00 27 3341

y = 2203.5e0.0279x

y = 90.526x + 2073.3

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

1981

198219

8319

8419

8519

8619

8719

8819

8919

9019

9119

9219

9319

9419

9519

9619

9719

9819

9920

0020

0120

0220

0320

0420

0520

0620

07

Articles

Expon. (Articles)

Linear (Articles)

Growth of publications, 1981-2007

SCI SSCIRatio of

SSCI to SCI A&HCIRatio of

A&HCI to SCI

1981 1905 164 11.62 32 59.53

1982 1993 169 11.79 54 36.91

1983 2080 196 10.61 61 34.10

1984 2143 178 12.04 69 31.06

1985 2385 218 10.94 82 29.09

1986 2703 234 11.55 105 25.74

1987 3070 215 14.28 90 34.11

1988 2934 230 12.76 90 32.60

1989 2719 193 14.09 82 33.16

1990 2747 234 11.74 111 24.75

1991 2892 296 9.77 114 25.37

1992 2847 232 12.27 132 21.57

1993 2768 274 10.10 111 24.94

1994 2777 249 11.15 132 21.04

Performance of SA in NSE, SSH and A&H, 1981-1994

SCI SSCIRatio of

SSCI to SCI A&HCIRatio of

A&HCI to SCI

1995 2866 348 8.24 114 25.14

1996 3030 358 8.46 121 25.04

1997 3194 331 9.65 129 24.76

1998 3264 357 9.14 120 27.20

1999 3453 329 10.50 109 31.68

2000 3225 384 8.40 117 27.56

2001 3408 364 9.36 116 29.38

2002 3526 453 7.78 130 27.12

2003 3525 448 7.87 140 25.18

2004 3787 512 7.40 134 28.26

2005 3981 575 6.92 143 27.84

2006 4446 735 6.05 156 28.50

2007 4038 606 6.66 123 32.83

TOTAL 81706 8882 9.20 2917 28.01

Performance of SA in NSE, SSH and A&H, 1994-2007

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

Year of Publication

No

. o

f P

ap

ers

SCI SSCI A&HCI NRF NSE NRF SSH

Coverage of SA research papers in ISI vs NRF Rating of researchers – NSE and SSH

1986-1988

1989-1991

1992-1994

1995-1997

1998-2000

2001-2003

2004-2006

TOTAL

Social Sciences 868 1180 1447 1371 1613 1609 1550 9638

Humanities 1021 1194 1291 1587 1518 1340 1322 9273

Natural sciences 340 398 434 445 456 505 555 3133

Formal Sciences 301 382 450 509 456 447 546 3091

Professions and Applied Sciences

Education 1075 1400 1521 1518 1675 1639 1701 10529

Health sciences 725 885 1044 1102 1139 1495 1553 7943

Business 956 875 797 1315 1189 1243 1518 7893

Engineering 844 912 871 948 893 983 1146 6597

Agriculture 318 377 320 323 429 619 611 2997

Law 198 249 291 358 462 582 666 2806

Env. Sci. & Forestry 67 96 137 271 309 459 473 1812

Social work 187 228 282 229 241 218 236 1621

Library & Info Sci. 55 68 89 83 107 194 189 785

Projects, theses and dissertations in C&CR

KEY

AuthorNo of publications %

Subject specializations NRFRated?

VANSTADEN, J 587 0.65% Plant Sciences, Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology, Horticulture Y

WINGFIELD, MJ  384  0.43% Mycology, Plant Sciences, Forestry Y

NOAKES, TD  269  0.30% Sport Sciences, Physiology, Medicine (General & Internal) Y

MOODLEY, J  248  0.28% Obstetrics & Gynecology, Medicine (General & Internal), Surgery Y

COVILLE, NJ  211  0.23% Chemistry Y

STEIN, DJ  211  0.23% Psychiatry, Neurosciences Y

OPIE, LH  198  0.22% Cardiac & Cardiovascular System, Pharmacology & Pharmacy Y

ANDERSON, R 198 0.22% Pharmacology & Pharmacy, Immunology, Infectious Diseases N

CROUS, PW  198  0.22% Mycology, Plant Sciences, Agronomy N

SELLSCHOP, JPF  189  0.21% Nuclear Physics, Nuclear Science & Technology N

NASSIMBENI, LR  178  0.20% Crystallography, Chemistry Y

JACOBS, P  177  0.20% Hematology, Medicine (General & Internal), Oncology N

YAVIN, Y  176  0.20%Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Operations Research & Management Science

N

MILLAR, RP  175  0.19%Endocrinology &Metabolism, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Cell Biology

N

LETCHER, TM  173  0.19% Physical Chemistry, Thermodynamics, Chemical Engineering N

WINGFIELD, BD  173  0.19% Mycology, Plant Sciences, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Y

HORAK, IG  172  0.19% Veterinary Sciences, Entomology, Zoology Y

CHOWN, SL  171  0.19% Ecology, Entomology, Biodiversity Conservation Y

KILKENNY, D  169  0.19% Astronomy & Astrophysics N

COOVADIA, HM  168  0.19% Medicine (General & Internal), Pediatrics, Infectious Diseases N

Top 10 SA LIS authors in ISI indexes

• Percentage contribution of most productive LIS author = 0.02 (N=90197)

• All top LIS authors = Academics (Lecturers)

• Number of NRF rated LIS researchers = 6

• No non-academic LIS worker is rated by NRF. All NRF rated LIS workers – hold title of Professor

Author Articles Other subject categories TC AV cites

h-index

NRF Rated

VAN BRAKEL, PA 16 Computer science, information systems 25 1.56 4 Y

BRITZ, JJ 10 Computer science, information systems 23 2.30 3 N

DU TOIT, ASA 10 Computer science, information systems 10 2.20 1 N

FOURIE, I 9  Computer science, information systems 19 2.11 3 N

LOR, PJ 9 Computer science, information systems 17 1.89 3 N

NASSIMBENI, M 9 Educational & educational research 9 1.0 2 Y

SNYMAN, R 9 Computer science, information systems 2 0.22 1 N

POURIS, A 8 Computer science, interdisciplinary applications; Computer science, information systems

10 1.25 2 N

OCHOLLA, DN 7 Computer science, information systems 12 1.71 2 Y

MYERS, G 6   3 0.50 1 N

Rank Subject category Articles TC Av cites h-index

1 Medicine, General & Internal 6479 54012 8.34 80

2 Plant Sciences 4897 34637 7.07 51

3 Zoology 3342 26055 7.80 47

4 Ecology 3329 46059 13.84 67

5 Multidisciplinary Sciences 2814 30595 10.87 77

6 Biochemistry & Molecular Biology 2680 36592 13.65 67

7 Veterinary Sciences 2619 16776 6.41 39

8 Surgery 2537 23999 9.46 57

9 Marine & Freshwater Biology 2450 33848 13.82 57

10 Environmental Sciences 2285 22538 9.86 51

11 Astronomy & Astrophysics 2290 37054 16.18 71

12 Water resources 2077 13466 6.48 42

13 Pharmacology & Pharmacy 1844 19830 10.75 50

14 Chemistry, Multidisciplinary 1710 13815 8.08 45

15 Geosciences, Multidisciplinary 1653 17340 10.49 50

16 Chemistry, Physical 1575 14442 9.17 39

17 Microbiology 1553 22560 14.53 54

18 Entomology 1539 8379 5.44 28

19 Public, environmental & occupational health 1519 13778 9.07 42

20 Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology 1487 18559 12.40 52

127 Library & Information Science 268 588 2.19 10

NRF rated researchers’ fields

Fields = 249

242020

191818181818

1615

14141414

13131313131313

121212121212

1111111111111111

101010101010101010101010101010

Biomedical sciencesTaxonomy

BiodiversityMolecular biology

Behavioural ecologyPlant physiology

Conservation biologySystematics

Science educationMicrobiologyBiochemistry

EpidemiologyBiotechnologyBiogeography

EvolutionSolid state physicsConstitutional law

EcologyPopulation genetics

EnzymologyGender studies

Evolutionary biologyConservation

KineticsEntomology

EnvironmentalMathematical modelling

OptimisationLiterary theory

HerpetologyMathematics education

Nature conservationOrnithology

Analytical chemistryHuman rights

Science and technologyFunctional analysis

Computational chemistryMaterials science

EcophysiologyEnvironmental management

Medicinal chemistryPlant pathology

Numerical analysisBioinformatics

Conservation ecologyEnvironmental healthEvolutionary ecology

EthnobotanyBiosystematics

Molecular and cell biology

Top specialties of NRF rated researchers

Except for:

1. Human Rights

2. Literary theory

3. Gender studies

4. Constitutional law

ALL are natural and/or formal sciences

0

5000000

10000000

15000000

20000000

25000000

30000000

35000000

40000000

Year

Am

ou

nt

in R

and

s

A 20597210 26372330 30763020 34704291 35249269

B 13850420 16268880 19586650 23562937 23126191

C 16387670 18425850 17933537 18134051 21680072

D 8293380 6384280 5046270 7972471 35080233

E 4922640 8218010 10831770 16994099 16001626

F 4503280 7082780 12862280 11651996 14388414

G 4380080 4758410 3871310 4053902 3779757

H 3441100 2683720 2999250 3804000 4526850

I 779000 4304270 1690000 1300119 1459504

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

KEY NRF funding by focus area, 2001-2005

A = 147686120

B = 96395078

C = 92561180

D = 62776634

E = 56968145

F = 50488750

G = 20843459

H = 17454920

I = 9532893

A = 230.6

B = 151.2

C = 146.6

E = 107.2

F = 88.0

G = 68.6

D = 63.2

H = 37.0

I = 14.2

210219

259 251

75

184

150162

185

74

166155 151

187

51

91

116132

146

6979

102 109

8173 73 70 66 6173 70

4663 64

38 35 39 37

9 16 15 1120

214

36

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Year

No

. of

Gra

nts

A B C E F G D H I

KEY

Total number of grants per focus area

Average number of grants per focus area

Average amount per grant per focus area

KEY

  2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 TOTAL

C 61688.77 97024.38 183746.86 176545.39 235875.64 147197.52

G 86555.56 269016.88 112666.67 118192.64 72975.20 134266.10

B 71342.61 104025.44 106193.82 155909.17 197550.94 129473.06

F 96248.64 125582.52 140470.41 133993.40 140435.33 128088.57

I 184672.27 88417.83 130577.67 145450.23 125006.44 127506.72

E 221455.00 110999.10 115700.24 120093.05 115936.21 126277.19

A 162615.29 70156.92 43502.33 60397.51 240275.57 117120.59

H 90555.26 76677.71 83312.50 97538.46 122347.30 94350.92

D 60001.10 67977.29 84158.91 64347.65 59058.70 65960.31

TOTAL 114134.29 102271.14 116154.11 123163.17 150476.66 122370.88

9.37.4 7.2

10.2

13.514.8

20.721.8

20.8

10.711.8 12.4

13.7

10.5

12.8

20.2

24.823.9

15.2

10.28.1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

2001 2003 2004

Year

Pe

rce

nta

ge

of

GE

RD

Agricultural sciences

Medical and Health Sciences

Natural Sciences

Social sciences andhumanities

Information, computer &communication technologies

Engineering sciences

Applied sciences &technologies

Expenditure on R&D by major research field

Source: Republic of South Africa. Dept of Science and Technology, 2002-2006

Conclusions & recommendations Conclusions

Research output in South Africa has increased linearly since 1981 No major leaps (upwards nor downwards) witnessed – two periods Research in natural and engineering sciences is dominant Scientists in NSE are the most prolific Similarities between South African research output and NRF rating Funding towards research is skewed in favour of NSE

NRF Government

NRF rated researchers’ areas of research interest were the most researched as shown in ISI

NRF pattern of funding may imply continued dominance of NSE for as long as few SSH researchers are rated

Government funding pattern – dominance of NSE More black researchers – Equity in research Impact of the transformation initiatives on research in SA?

Hard to tell – Too early to conclude? Whether negatively or positively – Eyes of the beholder?

Recommendations Growth of social science research output [including LIS research]

Multidisciplinary research? Research within the focus/niche areas – expansion of areas Research within the Millennium Development Goals More funding, Perhaps!

Visibility (influence/impact) Collaboration with international scholars Presentation and/or publications of research findings both nationally and

internationally Application for NRF rating – Researcher visibility?

Further research Impact of funding on research How and to what extent rating of researchers affect research

output? How pre-determined focus areas affect research

Are focus areas limiting in any way? Other factors that influence high productivity in NSE research

For example, Do the number of researchers in a discipline matter?

Conclusions & recommendations

Contact details:Dr. OB OnyanchaUniversity of South AfricaDept of Information SciencePO Box 392 UNISA 0003Email: onyanob@unisa.ac.zaTel: +27 72 356 5036

COMMENTS, QUESTIONS?

Go therefore LIS researchers…