South African Science Cutbacks

A couple of recent articles have dealt with science and technology in South Africa. (One in Nature, 29 April 2004.) In the ten years since the introduction of multiracial democracy, the country’s share of global scientific publications has dropped from 0.8 to 0.49 percent. Expenditure on R&D has dropped from 1.1 to 0.64 percent of GDP. “Nearly all of South African publications are authored by white males (about half of whom are over 50 years old, up from 18% in 1990). Eleven percent of government researchers leave their government laboratories each year, and fifteen percent of university researchers leave.