Bibliometric Analysis of Climate Change Publications in Tanzania from 1964 to 2021

Abstract

Climate change has affected lives of all human beings around the globe making it a growing area of research concern among scientists worldwide. Researchers have used bibliometrics to analyse research productivity and the impact of climate change research output. This study aimed at analysing the trends of research output on climate change in Tanzania from 1964 to 2021. Specifically, the study investigates the growth of publications and citation impact on climate change in Tanzania during the period under study. Data were searched, retrieved and analysed from Dimensions.ai. The results show that the trend of publications on climate change in Tanzania is growing with peak production in 2020 and 2021. Researchers in developed nations like USA, UK, and Germany have significantly contributed to the production of publications on the subject and so are their citations. Renowned public universities and research institutions in Tanzania have contributed more publications on the subject. Research outputs published in Open Access are increasingly contributing to climate change scholarly research output. Researchers from developed countries are highly cited compared to local researchers. Comparing the productivity of research institutions in Tanzania, the University of Dar es Salaam, Sokoine University of Agriculture, and the Nelson Mandela Institute of Science and Technology have a large share of publications and citations on climate change. Publications from high Impact Factor open-access journals are highly cited. This study recommends further studies on climate change using bibliometrics including assessing the impact of climate change publications on policy influence in the country.