Abstract
Background: The literature has addressed the negative impact of poor neonatal conditions (NCs) across regions. This has drawn attention to the need to improve NCs, particularly in Africa. NCs research can make an important contribution. However, there is no study dedicated to this topic in Africa. A bibliometric analysis of NCs research can assist scientists in planning ongoing and new NCs research and support those involved in developing and implementing strategies to combat poor NCs. Methods: This study used discipline-specific terms to identify articles on NCs published between 2000 and 2019 and indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS) with at least one African author. A bibliometric analysis was applied to determine the volume, visibility, topics, and collaboration activities related to NCs research. Results: The results show that knowledge on NCs increased between 2000 and 2019; NCs research is concentrated in a few African countries (Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Kenya), and its visibility is below the world average. In general, maternal mortality is the most researched topic and collaborative activities are frequent, mainly international research collaboration (IRC), with the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK) being the main partners (they participated in 57% and 28% of all articles with IRC). The collaboration networks are fragile as 43–67% of all links represent one article in 20 years. Conclusions: Ongoing and new NCs research in Africa should consider the main African players and their partners as important sources of knowledge. There is a need to implement strategies to increase NC knowledge in other African countries, expand and strengthen collaboration networks, and diversify the sources of knowledge.
Published Version
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