Authorship patterns in Africa's groundwater literature: Indications for helicopter research?

Groundwater plays an essential role in Africa and corresponding research is vital to resource management and long-term planning. However, the level of research output and the mode of international research collaboration on the continent have been questioned. In particular, cases of "helicopter research" have been reported. The term implies that scientists from wealthy nations do research in lower-income countries without involving local collaborators. To investigate the phenomenon in a groundwater context, we performed a bibliometric study by extracting and analyzing (meta)data from Clarivate's Web of Science database for the time period 1991–2020. Here, we particularly focused on authors and their affiliations. The analysis showed that there is a pronounced intra-continental imbalance and that much of the groundwater research output in Africa is produced by Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, and Morocco – larger countries with a relatively high Gross Domestic Product. These nations apparently "own" their research, i.e., papers about groundwater in these countries include local (co-)authors (affiliation in the concerned country), or at least authors with an African affiliation. However, this does not apply to a number of other African countries, implying that local scientists do not spearhead corresponding studies which points towards helicopter research. To foster effective groundwater research and counteract the above-mentioned development, various players have to contribute, including local governments, funding organizations, individual researchers, but also journals.