A bibliometric review of research on climate change in Africa

The increasing frequency and severity of climate change-related disasters have made it a dominant issue in global public policy debates. In Africa, scholarly climate change research publications have gradually evolved, reflecting growing academic engagement with the continent’s unique climate challenges. This study makes a novel contribution by conducting a bibliometric analysis that not only maps the volume of scholarly output but also explores key trends, geographic distribution, keywords, leading researchers, collaboration networks, and research visibility. Using the VOSviewer visualisation tool, network maps were generated from a dataset of 662 research publications. The findings indicate that scholarly interest in this area gained momentum around 2016 and has continued to grow, with South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana emerging as leading contributors. However, the analysis also highlights limited collaboration among authors and institutions, which may impede the coherence and impact of climate-related policy and practice. Moreover, the study identifies a disconnect between the production of climate knowledge and its practical application. To address this gap, the paper recommends that climate scientists reassess their approaches to collaboration and strengthen partnerships with media professionals to enhance the dissemination of accurate and actionable climate information. • Effective communication encourages action toward climate action. • We conducted a bibliometric review of climate change research in Africa. • Progress is evidenced by diverse journal publications, authorships, keywords and subject areas. • Geographical distribution analysis shows that South Africa is leading in productivity. • There remains a gap between the production of climate information and its practical application.