Online Visibility of Pharmacy Research in Tanzania: A Scientometric Study

Abstract

Objective: This scientometric analysis was carried out to map the online visibility of pharmacy research at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) from 1981 to 2016.Methods: Publish or Perish software was used to collect data for 33 scientists from the School of Pharmacy at MUHAS. We retrieved data on scholars' publications, citation counts, the number of authors per publication, average citations per paper, average citations per year, h-index, gindex, contemporary H-index (Hc index) and the HI-norm index.Results: A total of 499 publications were recorded for all scholars and the most (61; 12.2%) productive was 2013. The whole study period recorded the mean relative growth rate (RGR) and doubling time (Dt) of 1.62 and 0.46 respectively. A great majority (484; 97%) of the publications were multiple-authored with nearly one third (157; 31.5%) of these being jointly contributed by six or more authors. The maximum number of citations received in a single publication was 241. The degree of collaboration among scientists was as high as 0.97. The top ranked pharmacy researchers showed variation in various metrics. Conclusion:The study findings indicate a continuous growth of pharmacy publications at MUHAS since 1981. There is a high level of collaboration among scholars and many publications have made a great impact through citations.

Research trends and output among information studies postgraduate students in Tanzania, 2000–2017: A reflection of the University of Dar es Salaam

“…Based on the findings on researched classification schemes, the dominance in postgraduate students’ selection of user studies classification scheme reflect changes most libraries around the globe undergo in functions and structure aimed to respond to the needs of users in addition to establishing user driven-services. The factors which may explain the trend include the global dominance of user information behaviour and information use in the past two decades (Kannappanavar and Vijayakumar 2000; Singh and Babbar 2014; Ndenje-Sichalwe and Elia, 2021). The two themes have remained crucial in explaining the foundations of the LIS discipline over years.…”

“…Copying and replicating similar research areas may be common not only among students but also among LIS researchers in developing countries (Mutula, 2011), largely being contributed by insufficient funding. Inadequate funds and weaknesses in expertise among LIS institutions/professionals deprive researchers an opportunity to research on topical issues related to technology application, methodology and information retrieval (Ndenje-Sichalwe and Elia, 2021; Onyancha, 2018 and Elia and Sife, 2018).…”

“…Similar studies (see Jarvelin and Vakkari, 1993;Zong, Shen, Yuan, Hu, Hou and Deng 2013;Toumaala, Jarvelin, and Vakkari, 2014;Maity and Hatua, 2015;Rochester, 2016 andKumar, 2019) were conducted on LIS research trends focusing on national, international or a combination of both. In Tanzania, Lwoga andSife (2013), Sife et al (2013), Sife and Lwoga (2014) and Sangeda and Lwoga (2017) have conducted similar studies on research productivity pattern in LIS and other disciplines. Based on the literature reviewed in Tanzania, no local research has specifically traced LIS research themes using postgraduate scholarly publications, particularly theses in the LIS discipline.…”

“…Ndenje-Sichalwe and Elia (2021) noted that researching on productivity pattern and methods is essential in understanding the development of a discipline and extent to which research was conducted. Research pattern and output also helps to improve the quality of research and methods used in a discipline.…”

Evaluation of the Indian Top 10 Pharma Education Institutions Research Output Listed by National Institutional Ranking Framework (Nirf) 2020: A Scientometric Study

“…Lwoga, Sangeda, And Sife [14] Scientometric analysis was conducted using Publish or Perish software to map online visibility of pharmaceutical research at Muhimbili United University of Health and Sciences (MUHAS) from 1981 to 2016. They collected 449 papers from 33 MUHAS scientists and analyzed them.…”