The resilience of regional African HIV/AIDS research networks to the withdrawal of international authors in the subfield of public administration and governance: lessons for funders and collaborators

This paper compares the position and performance of Africans in international research networks, comparing a well-funded and internationally driven research network against a network developing organically with less funding and oversight. Specifically, we map the co-authorship networks related to African governance and public policy (1) in general and (2) related to HIV/AIDS. In both research networks Africans are well positioned globally, but African authors have lower connectivity and status in the HIV/AIDS network than the general network. Links between authors in different African countries are often bridged by non-Africans. This makes the African research networks vulnerable to shifting funding priorities; and international dropout would fragment the HIV/AIDS network more than the general network. We conclude that funders and researchers should prioritize direct inter-country African collaborations to improve the resilience of African research networks.