Two decades of neuroscience publication trends in Africa

Neuroscience research in Africa remains sparse. Devising new policies to boost Africa’s neuroscience landscape is imperative, but these must be based on accurate data on research outputs which is largely lacking. Such data must reflect the heterogeneity of research environments across the continent’s 54 countries. Here, we analyse neuroscience publications affiliated with African institutions between 1996 and 2017. Of 12,326 PubMed indexed publications, 2,519 show clear evidence that the work was carried out in Africa and led by African-based researchers - on average 5 per country per year. From here, we extract information on journals and funders, international collaborations and the uses of this data. Furthermore, we also extract the metrics from specifically selected publications each from the UK, USA, Australia, Japan and Brazil. Our dataset provides insights into the state of African neuroscience research in a global context.

M. B. Maina, U. Ahmad, H. A. Ibrahim, S. K. Hamidu, F. E. Nasr, A. T. Salihu, A. I. Abushouk, M. A. Abdurazak, M. A. Awadelkareem, A. Amin, A. Imam, I. D. Akinrinade, A. H. Yakubu, I. A. Azeez, Y. G. Mohammed, A. A. Adamu, H. B. Ibrahim, A. M. Bukar, A. U. Yaro, B. W. Goni, L. L. Prieto-Godino, T. Baden