The chapter examines the global output on altmetrics research as indexed in Scopus database covering the period 2014 – 2017. The study reveals an increasing trend in the altmetrics research during the study period. Out of 524 global publications, the highest output contribution was found in the year 2018. The US was found to be the major contributor in this field of altmetrics, and journal articles were found to be the preferred source of publication. Social science discipline contributed the largest share of papers (320), followed by computer science, medicine, decision sciences, and mathematics. Scientometrics was the most productive journal in this field of altmetrics.
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During 2007 there were 33.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide (UNAIDS 2007). Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected with HIV/AIDS which is the leading cause of deaths in the region. South Africa is the country with the largest number of HIV infections in the world. The epidemic varies considerably amongst provinces, from 15% in the Western Cape to 39% in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. HIV/AIDS has become a political and scientific issue in South Africa. At the International AIDS Conference in Durban, in April 2000, then the South African President, Mbeki, made a speech that avoided reference to HIV and instead focused on the problem of poverty, increasing perceptions that he saw poverty as a powerful co-factor in AIDS diagnosis. Furthermore, President Mbeki defended a small group of dissident scientists who claim that AIDS is not caused by HIV (Cohen, 2007).
Scientometric approaches have been used for the assessment of scientific disciplines internationally (Dastidar & Ramachandran, 2005 and Pouris 2007), the assessment of a number of scientific disciplines within a country (Pouris, 2003 and Sombatsompop, et al. 2005), the assessment of a particular discipline within a country (Kim 2007 and Pouris, 2007) and the assessment of scientometric phenomena (Schubert & Sooryamoorthy 2010). The approach has also been used for the analysis of HIV/AIDS research in other countries (Macias-Chapula & Mijangos-Nolasco, 2002, Macias-Chapul,a et al. 1999; Mackenzie 2000 & Small 1994). A recent article (Onyacha, et al. forthcoming) investigates, through an analysis of the published literature, the notion held by several people that HIV/AIDS in Africa is unique. An investigation (Chigwedere, et al. 2008) from the Harvard School of Public Health identified that more than 330,000 lives were lost to HIV/AIDS in South Africa between 2000 and 2005 because a feasible and timely antiretroviral (ARV) treatment program was not implemented. In addition, an estimated 35,000 babies were born with HIV during the same period in the country because a feasible mother-to-child transmission prophylaxis program using nevirapine (an anti-AIDS drug) was not implemented.