Assessing the knowledge base for biotechnology in South Africa

Summary

We review the knowledge base for biotechnology in South Africa in the light of government interventions aimed at establishing a biotechnology industry. We use bibliometric methods to analyse data from the ISI database on the performance of microbiology, genetics and molecular biology research over a 20-year period from 1980 to 2000. Genetics and molecular biology publications have seen a steady decline while microbiology has steadily increased its share of world publications. Although the quantity of the base is small the relative impact factor suggests that the quality of publications in these disciplines is comparable to world output. We conclude that the lack of adequate output in these disciplines poses a threat to government policies and investment aimed at increasing biotechnology commercialisation.