This report, a partnership between Elsevier and the World Bank, examines and compares the research enterprise of sub-Saharan Africa from 2003 and 2013, with a special emphasis on research in STEM. This analysis provides valuable insights that help to advance SDG 4 Quality education and SDG 10 Reduced inequalities.
The World Bank and Elsevier partnered on this report to examine and compare the research enterprise of sub-Saharan Africa from 2003 to 2013, with a special emphasis on research in STEM. The report focuses on research output and citation impact, regional and international research collaboration, and researcher mobility, all important indicators of the strength of the subcontinent's research enterprise.
To generate this report, Elsevier's Analytical Services analyzed three different regions in sub-Saharan Africa (West & Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa) and compared the research enterprises of those regions to that of South Africa, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The latter two countries had a comparable research base to the SSA regions at the beginning of the period of analysis. The report drew on a variety of data sources including Scopus data, R&D expenditure, population, and human capital data from UNESCO Institute of Statistics, and patent information from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and LexisNexis TotalPatent.
