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The past few years have witnessed new interest in doctoral production in South Africa. In the first section of the article, it is argued that this new interest has its roots in various higher education policy documents over the past decade. The second part of the article presents some of the most recent statistics on various aspects of doctoral production: trends in enrolments and graduations, completion and attrition rates as well as the supervisory capacity in the system. In the final section it is argued that the policy discourse, together with the analysis of the statistical data, gave rise to four challenges. These are the goals to expand the volume of doctoral graduates being produced as well as the supervisory capacity in the system and the demands to improve the efficiency and quality of doctoral production. In the ensuing discussion of these challenges, it is argued that various factors mitigate against the easy attainment of the first three goals. Although it remains important that these goals are pursued, it is argued that more emphasis should be afforded to considerations about the quality of doctoral training.

Um den Kontext und die Stellung der Sozialwissenschaften während der Apartheid und den jüngsten Post-Apartheid-Perioden zu verstehen, beginnt der Beitrag mit einem kurzen historischen Rückblick auf die Etablierung und Institutionalisierung der Sozialwissenschaften in Südafrika in den 1920er und 1930er Jahren. Es wird gezeigt, dass diese frühen Jahre der Herausbildung der Sozialwissenschaften in eine südafrikanische Ideologie eingebettet waren, die durch die Anglo-Buren-Kriege des späten 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhunderts entstanden ist. Der zweite Abschnitt des Beitrags stellt die Hauptmerkmale der Sozialwissenschaften in den Jahren der Apartheid (1948-1994) dar, in denen es sowohl ein wachsendes internationales als auch ein national isoliertes Wissenschaftssystem gab. Die Abschottung der südafrikanischen Wissenschaft in diesem Zeitraum erfolgte dabei auf geografischer und ideologischer Ebene. Der dritte Hauptteil des Beitrags enthält eine Analyse und Diskussion von quantitativen und bibliometrischen Daten zur Forschungstätigkeit in den Sozialwissenschaften. Es werden unter anderem Daten über die Co-Autorenschaft wie zur internationalen Publikationstätigkeit der südafrikanischen Wissenschaftler vorgestellt. Im letzten Abschnitt werden einige allgemeine und eher qualitative Beobachtungen zur Internationalisierung der Sozialwissenschaften in Südafrika und ihren möglichen zukünftigen Folgen angestellt. (ICI).

Our main argument in this paper is that South African science is currently experiencing the third major transitional period in its long and interesting history. With the advent of a free and democratic South Africa in 1994, a new era dawned for science as well. We argue, in the main body of the paper, that it is appropriate to refer to this as the third transitional phase in the history of South African science. Two parallel challenges face the new government: first, to democratise the science system; second, to ensure that the national system of innovation is indeed sufficiently competitive to take its rightful place within a globalising science system. The paper discusses in some detail how South African science has attempted to address these two challenges over the past eight years. It concludes with an assessment of the current tensions and challenges in the national system of innovation.

This document presents an overview of (recent) historical as well as current trends in scientific production in Africa. This review clearly shows that there has been a reversal of trends in scientific production that started around the turn of the millennium. Whereas African science was on the decline during the last two decades of the previous millennium, there is now abundant evidence that scientific output is increasing, that Africa's share of world scientific papers has grown significantly and that international research collaboration has increased substantially. These changes are occurring at the same time as international funding of research in Africa is increasing - especially in the fields of health, environmental sciences and some aspects of agricultural sciences. Our analysis of these trends, however, also shows that there remain areas of concern and challenge, viz. the low investment by African governments themselves in (public) Research and Development (R&D) and thus the continued reliance by many countries and universities on foreign funding. We highlight some of the structural effects the various new funding arrangements have had on scientific research in Africa. We point to three already visible effects: (1) the absolute need to involve national institutions in any new funding landscape; (2) the effects on governance arrangements amidst the increasing complexity of multi-lateral, multi-actor funding frameworks; and (3) the yet largely unknown effects that funding configurations may have on the careers of scientists (especially young scientists) on the continent. We then discuss three structural constraints of research in Africa: (1) the essential role of universities as the main loci for research in Africa; (2) the challenge about investing in research activities in order to promote excellent research; (3) the priority to address the challenges related to employment and the circulation of scientists (in the wake of decades of emigrations of scientists and highly skilled workers). We conclude ...

This document presents an overview of (recent) historical as well as current trends in scientific production in Africa. This review clearly shows that there has been a reversal of trends in scientific production that started around the turn of the millennium. Whereas African science was on the decline during the last two decades of the previous millennium, there is now abundant evidence that scientific output is increasing, that Africa's share of world scientific papers has grown significantly and that international research collaboration has increased substantially. These changes are occurring at the same time as international funding of research in Africa is increasing - especially in the fields of health, environmental sciences and some aspects of agricultural sciences. Our analysis of these trends, however, also shows that there remain areas of concern and challenge, viz. the low investment by African governments themselves in (public) Research and Development (R&D) and thus the continued reliance by many countries and universities on foreign funding. We highlight some of the structural effects the various new funding arrangements have had on scientific research in Africa. We point to three already visible effects: (1) the absolute need to involve national institutions in any new funding landscape; (2) the effects on governance arrangements amidst the increasing complexity of multi-lateral, multi-actor funding frameworks; and (3) the yet largely unknown effects that funding configurations may have on the careers of scientists (especially young scientists) on the continent. We then discuss three structural constraints of research in Africa: (1) the essential role of universities as the main loci for research in Africa; (2) the challenge about investing in research activities in order to promote excellent research; (3) the priority to address the challenges related to employment and the circulation of scientists (in the wake of decades of emigrations of scientists and highly skilled workers). We conclude ...

This document presents an overview of (recent) historical as well as current trends in scientific production in Africa. This review clearly shows that there has been a reversal of trends in scientific production that started around the turn of the millennium. Whereas African science was on the decline during the last two decades of the previous millennium, there is now abundant evidence that scientific output is increasing, that Africa's share of world scientific papers has grown significantly and that international research collaboration has increased substantially. These changes are occurring at the same time as international funding of research in Africa is increasing - especially in the fields of health, environmental sciences and some aspects of agricultural sciences. Our analysis of these trends, however, also shows that there remain areas of concern and challenge, viz. the low investment by African governments themselves in (public) Research and Development (R&D) and thus the continued reliance by many countries and universities on foreign funding. We highlight some of the structural effects the various new funding arrangements have had on scientific research in Africa. We point to three already visible effects: (1) the absolute need to involve national institutions in any new funding landscape; (2) the effects on governance arrangements amidst the increasing complexity of multi-lateral, multi-actor funding frameworks; and (3) the yet largely unknown effects that funding configurations may have on the careers of scientists (especially young scientists) on the continent. We then discuss three structural constraints of research in Africa: (1) the essential role of universities as the main loci for research in Africa; (2) the challenge about investing in research activities in order to promote excellent research; (3) the priority to address the challenges related to employment and the circulation of scientists (in the wake of decades of emigrations of scientists and highly skilled workers). We conclude ...