Google scholar citation in retrospect: Visibility and contributions of African scholars

Abstract

The study examines usability of Google Scholar Citation (GSC) by African Scholars, to determine e-visibility and productivity. Data of registered scholars in African institutions were obtained through GSC profiles using discriminatory search addresses. These were number of registered researchers, citation counts and h-index of highest and lowest rated researchers, number of articles of highest rated researcher with at least 10 citations, and number of researchers with at least one or 100 citations. Data obtained for thirty African countries, and ten selected Universities from Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa were analyzed to evolve a productivity measure of Mean Visibility Index (MVI) defined as weighted arithmetic mean of the eight productivity parameters. The results identified the top five Universities to be Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Witwatersrand, Ain Shams and Pretoria. The study showed that GSC is a veritable tool to assess visibility and productivity of African scholars and their institutions.