Web Visibility of Co-Operative Research in Tanzania: A Case of Moshi Co-Operative University

Abstract

This study was carried out to map the web visibility of co-operative research in Tanzania for the period between 2004 and 2020.Visibility was measured by determining the distribution of publications by type, growth pattern of publications, collaborative patterns among researchers, distribution of publications by subjects and the scholarly impact of scholars. Publish or Perish program was employed to collect data for 193 scholars. Data were compiled, sorted and analysed using MS Excel. A total of 438 publications were recorded with 74% of these being journal articles. The recorded mean Relative Growth Rate (RGR) and Doubling Time (Dt) were 1.71and 0.41respectively. Most (74.67%) publications were multiple-authored with 32.88% of these being jointly contributed by two authors. The degree of collaboration was as high as 0.75. The maximum number of citations received in a single publication was 84. The findings show nearly similar distribution of publications on socio-economic impact of co-operatives (9.13%), agricultural co-operatives (8.68%), gender and co-operatives (7.99%) as well as agricultural production (7.99%).Generally, there was a gradual growth of publications in the field of co-operative. The level of collaboration among scholars was generally low with most publications shared by two or three authors. Although scholars showed variation in their productivity and impact, the average performance metrics were generally low. Similarly, citation counts for individual publications were generally minimal. Recommendations are made based on the study findings.