Africa Eastern and Southern: Scientific and technical journal articles

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2023, Africa Eastern and Southern's scientific and technical journal articles fell 2.3% on 2022 (from 31,334 to 30,626).

Across the 26 yearly changes before that (1997 to 2022), the average change was +7.1% and a typical year strayed about 4.2% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 14% in 2019 and the biggest yearly fall was 2.3% in 2023. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2014 to 2023 the straight-line trend is upward, about 2,037 a year. A straight line explains 97% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 36,940 for 2026. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2021 to 2023 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 3,237, against 4,068 for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

What this measures

Article counts refer to publications from a selection of conference proceedings and peer-reviewed journals from Scopus in science and engineering fields, according to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics Taxonomy of Disciplines.

Limitations: Because the bibliometric database is constantly updated, the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) does not recommend comparing bibliometric data across different editions of the Science and Engineering Indicators publication. For each edition of Indicators, NCSES uses a fixed snapshot of the database. This means that although trends are comparable, the exact number of articles, citations, and other data will vary across editions. For more information about comparing fixed versus dynamic journal data sets, see Schneider et al. (2019).

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a gap-filled total.

All 28 values

Scientific and technical journal articles in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 168.85 (2023)
• Algeria — 7,677 (2023)
• Bahrain — 718.3 (2023)
• Djibouti — 17.48 (2023)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 22,854 (2023)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 55,085 (2023)
• Iraq — 16,724 (2023)
• Israel — 13,844 (2023)
• Jordan — 5,419 (2023)
• Kuwait — 1,395 (2023)

More infrastructure data for Africa Eastern and Southern

• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 3 million (2025)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 0.4 (2025)
• Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 586,002 (2023)
• Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 4,761 (2023)
• Air transport, passengers carried — 46.18 million (2023)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 734 million (2025)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 93.1 (2025)
• ICT service exports (% of service exports, BoP) — 8.66% (2025)
• ICT goods imports (% total goods imports)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Africa Eastern and Southern's scientific and technical journal articles?

30,626 in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1996?

It is up 473.12% from 5,344 in 1996 (6.68% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 31,334 in 2022 and the lowest 5,344 in 1996.

Is the latest change in scientific and technical journal articles unusual for Africa Eastern and Southern?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator IP.JRN.ARTC.SC, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Science and Engineering Indicators, National Science Foundation (NSF), uri: https://ncses.nsf.gov/indicators Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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