Research Productivity: Trend and Comparative Analyses by Regions and Continents

Abstract

Using data for the period 2000 to 2019, the aim of this paper is to profile and compare research publications in regions and continents. The empirical evidence is based on the Poisson regression model, quantile regression for counts data and panel negative binomial regression. The findings can be summarised as follows: continuous and linear increasing trends in the production of knowledge are noted in developing regions specifically in Africa even if the contribution of the continent to global research is marginal. In countries with least production, ‘internet users’ is not significant but schooling modulates its effect on research production contrarily to countries in the upper part of the distribution. In Africa, if the number of schooling years increases by one, the number of documents or published works produced is expected to increase by a factor of 1.147.