Authorship trends in Ghana Journal of Agriculture Science: bibliometric study

Abstract

The paper examined authorship patterns of feature articles, research and development notes, subject review articles, provisional communications and documentation in the Ghana Journal of Agricultural Sciences (GJA). Content analysis was undertaken to collect feature articles, provisional communications and documentation in the GJAS from 36 volumes published over a 35-yearperiod (1968-2003). Authors’ institutional and geographic affiliations were examined. Descriptive statistics was used in analyzing the data. A total of 663 articles authored by 1202 authors were analysed. Results indicated that 352 articles were single-authored while 331 were co-authored. The preparation of single-authored paper had papers had decreased from90% in 1968 to 6.25% in 2003. During the period there was in increase in average number of authors per paper from 1.10 in 1968 to 2.87 in 2003. Degree of collaboration also increased from 0.10 to 0.94. The research should sensitize Ghanaian authors to collaboration more with experts from outside Ghana especially from the development world.