Perspectives on biometeorological research on the African continent
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REVIEW PAPER
Perspectives on biometeorological research on the African continent Jennifer M. Fitchett 1 Received: 2 July 2020 / Revised: 4 September 2020 / Accepted: 9 September 2020 # ISB 2020
Abstract Since the first issue of the International Journal of Biometeorology in 1957, a total of 135 papers have reported on research in or of African countries. The majority of these have been on topics of animal biometeorology (36%), and the greatest proportion (24%) are situated in Nigeria. There has been a considerable increase in papers on African biometeorology since 2011, with those from this past decade accounting for 58% of all African papers in the journal. This occurs concurrent to an increase in the total number of papers published in the journal, driven by a move to the Editorial Manager system. While 66% of the papers on African biometeorology in the journal are authored by at least one person with an affiliation in the African continent, only 15 African countries are represented in the total authorship. As much of the African continent is projected to experience climatic changes exceeding the global mean, as much of the region is involved in animal and plant farming, and as seasonally-fluctuating and climatically affected diseases are common place, this low representation of work in Africa is surprising. This points to the need for greater awareness among African researchers of the discipline of biometeorology, greater involvement of African biometeorologists in International Society of Biometeorology and Commission meetings, and the inclusion of a greater number of African academics in the review process. This would be beneficial to the Society in increasing diversity and encouraging a more cosmopolitan engagement, and to the recognition of scientific development in African countries. Keywords Africa . Phenology . Thermal comfort . Tourism . Vegetation . Animal biometeorology
Introduction The history and development of the International Society of Biometeorology, and its flagship journal the International Journal of Biometeorology (previously the International Journal of Bioclimatology and Biometeorology from 1957 to 1959), have been well documented in this journal, particularly on the occasion of decadal anniversaries (see for example Sargent and Tromp 1966; Tromp 1976; Keatley 2017; Sheridan and Allen 2017). The journal has been true to its international scope since its inception, including studies of and on the African continent since the first issue in 1957 (Lemaire 1957; Page 1957). Sheridan and Allen (2017) do, however, note that in the early years the authorship was Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-020-02020-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Jennifer M. Fitchett [email protected] 1
School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
dominated by Europe and North America. In 2011, the Executive Board of the In
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