Science in Africa: A bibliometric panorama using PASCAL database

PASCAL, whose troublesome artefacts we highlight, also has its strong point s (multidisciplinarity, codification of the topic of each article, better c overage of some countries). As other sources, it shows that the current dec ade is one of crisis in African research. However, developments are highly contrasted, depending on the discipline and the regions. To the north of Af rica, the Maghreb is witnessing an unprecedented gain in power. Nigerian sc ience is in quite the contrary situation, imploding. In the rest of Africa, classification of countries brings to evidence very striking changes in or der. Basic science declines. The Agricultural and the Medical sciences are stagnating. Conversely, the Engineering sciences are growing, in particular to the North of the Sahara.