Welcome to the African Research Observatory — a living, data-driven view of science on the continent, built from the OpenAlex corpus and rendered with Apache Superset. These pages tell the African light-source story in evidence: how much research Africa produces, where, how openly, in which techniques, and by whom. The figures are live; they update as the corpus does.
African science, at a glance
Four lenses on the continent’s research base — how it is growing, who leads, how its leading nations are converging, and which institutions lead the work.
Five data exposés
Each exposé pairs the live charts with a short explanation of what they reveal — and what it means for the case for an advanced light source on African soil.
Africa’s Rising Research Output →
A decade of steady, broadening growth — the momentum a facility would amplify.
The Geography of African Science →
Where research is produced, where it is sparse, and why distribution matters.
Openness & Global Collaboration →
How African science is published and partnered — open, connected, ready to plug in.
Light-Source Science in Africa →
Existing demand for synchrotron techniques, currently met thousands of km away.
Talent, Authorship & Mobility →
A deep bench of researchers, and the brain-circulation case for an anchor at home.
The Live Observatory →
Explore, filter and download the full interactive dashboards behind these stories.