Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Productivity of physical scientists in Nigerian Universities in relation to communication variables

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The central activity on which scientific enterprise revolves and is sustained is communication. Under normal circumstances, there is a correlation between the output of a scientist in terms of publications and the amount of time spent in communicating with other scientists or the extent of his contacts with other scientists. This relationship was investigated among physical scientists in some Nigerian universities; but the results do not substantiate it. This can be attributed to a host of constraints being experienced by the scientists in their research and communication activities. Consequently, performance in these activities is inconsistent and unpredictable, and so, there can be no systematic relationship between productivity and communication activities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. W.D. Garvey,Communication: The Essence of Science, Pergamon Oxford, 1979.

  2. J.R. Cole, S. Cole,Social Stratification in Science, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  3. A.J. Meadows,Communication in Science, Butterworths, London, 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  4. W.O. Hagstrom,The Scientific Community, New York, Basic Books, 1965.

    Google Scholar 

  5. G.M. Dobrov, R.R. Kocherovets, [Investigation of the effect of scientific communication on a scientist's information productivity], transl.Nauchno-Tekhnicheskaya Informatsiya, Ser. I (1979) No. 11, 1–6, Abstract in Library and Information Science Abstracts, April 1982.

  6. F.A. Ehikhamenor, A Study of Information Flow in Physical Science Research in Nigerian Universities, Ph.D. Thesis, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A., June 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  7. F.A. Ehikhamenor, Perceived state of science in Nigerian universities,Scientometrics, 13 (1988) 225–238.

    Google Scholar 

  8. J.D. Frame, Measuring scientific activity in lesser developed countries,Scientometrics, 2 (1980) 133–145.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Problems in the use of literature-based S & T indicators in developing countries, (A contribution to the International Workshop to Access the Coverage of the Scientific Output of the Third World, Philadelphia, U.S.A., July 1985).

  10. M.D. Gordon, Deficiencies of scientific information access and output in less developed countries,Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 30 (1979) 340–342.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kenneth Dike Library University of Ibadan, Ibadan, (Nigeria)

    F. A. Ehikhamenor

Authors
  1. F. A. Ehikhamenor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ehikhamenor, F.A. Productivity of physical scientists in Nigerian Universities in relation to communication variables. Scientometrics 18, 437–444 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02020155

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02020155

Keywords

Search

Navigation