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Topic · Information Systems

ICT in Developing Communities

ICT in Developing Communities is a research topic within Information Systems. Science Explorer counts 16k research works in it since 1951. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the use of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD) in rural communities, with a specific emphasis on mobile technology, digital empowerment of low-literacy users, and the role of ICT in improving access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities. The research explores user interface design, ICT skills training, and the impact of mobile technology on global development efforts.

  • Rural Communities
  • Mobile Technology
  • Low-Literacy Users
  • Digital Empowerment
  • Community Health Workers
  • User Interface Design
  • ICT Skills Training
  • Global Development
  • Digital Literacy
  • Educational Access
Research works
16k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
1.6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+7%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
India
32% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
ICT in Developing Communities

Which countries lead ICT in Developing Communities research?

By volume, India and the United States publish the most (829 and 744 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 India 829 works
  2. 2 United States 744 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 195 works
  4. 4 South Africa 185 works
  5. 5 Nigeria 158 works
  6. 6 China 112 works
  7. 7 Australia 105 works
  8. 8 Indonesia 104 works
  9. 9 Kenya 98 works
  10. 10 Bangladesh 86 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

India: 31.7%United States: 28.5%United Kingdom: 7.5%South Africa: 7.1%6 others listed: 25.3%32%largest
India829 · 31.7%United States744 · 28.5%United Kingdom195 · 7.5%South Africa185 · 7.1%6 others listed663 · 25.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead ICT in Developing Communities research?

By volume in 2022-now, American Society of Genealogists publishes the most ICT in Developing Communities research, followed by University of South Africa and University of Washington.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 American Society of GenealogistsUnited States 82 works
  2. 2 University of South AfricaSouth Africa 29 works
  3. 3 University of WashingtonUnited States 18 works
  4. 4 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 18 works
  5. 5 Amrita Vishwa VidyapeethamIndia 17 works
  6. 6 University of Cape TownSouth Africa 16 works
  7. 7 G.S. Science, Arts And Commerce CollegeIndia 16 works
  8. 8 Makerere UniversityUganda 16 works
  9. 9 University of NairobiKenya 15 works
  10. 10 Government of Western AustraliaAustralia 15 works

Who are the leading researchers in ICT in Developing Communities?

The most-cited researchers publishing on ICT in Developing Communities include Yousef Saleh Khader, Azeem Majeed and Sheikh Mohammed Shariful Islam.

  1. 1 Yousef Saleh Khader Jordan 274k citations
  2. 2 Azeem Majeed United Kingdom 235k citations
  3. 3 Sheikh Mohammed Shariful Islam Australia 195k citations
  4. 4 Till Bärnighausen Germany 189k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in ICT in Developing Communities?

The most cited paper in ICT in Developing Communities is "The Ethnography of Infrastructure" (Susan Leigh Star, 1999), with 4,347 citations. Next come "Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa" (2,070) and "The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money" (1,550).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Ethnography of Infrastructure Susan Leigh Star · American Behavioral Scientist Nov 1999 4,347
2 Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa Jenny C. Aker, Isaac Mbiti · The Journal of Economic Perspectives Aug 2010 2,070
3 The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money Tavneet Suri, William G. Jack · Science 8 Dec 2016 1,550
4 Health App Use Among US Mobile Phone Owners: A National Survey Paul M. Krebs, Dustin T. Duncan · JMIR mhealth and uhealth Open access 4 Nov 2015 1,441
5 Effects of a mobile phone short message service on antiretroviral treatment adherence in Kenya (WelTel Kenya1): a randomised trial Richard Todd Lester, Paul Ritvo, Edward J. Mills et al. · The Lancet Nov 2010 1,362
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is ICT in Developing Communities research done?

The largest centres of ICT in Developing Communities research in 2022-now are Sharon (United States), New Delhi (India), Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Nairobi (Kenya). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Sharon, Nairobi and Kampala.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 SharonUnited States 82 works
  2. 2 New DelhiIndia 65 works
  3. 3 DhakaBangladesh 61 works
  4. 4 NairobiKenya 58 works
  5. 5 PuneIndia 58 works
  6. 6 LondonUnited Kingdom 50 works
  7. 7 PretoriaSouth Africa 50 works
  8. 8 BengaluruIndia 50 works
  9. 9 JohannesburgSouth Africa 37 works
  10. 10 CoimbatoreIndia 32 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. SharonUS · 82.0 works196×
  2. NairobiKE · 58.0 works17×
  3. KampalaUG · 28.0 works16×
  4. Dar es SalaamTZ · 22.5 works15×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in ICT in Developing Communities than the world average.

See ICT in Developing Communities on the map

Where is the best place to study ICT in Developing Communities?

Among universities, judged by research, University of South Africa, University of Johannesburg and University of Virginia score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 19.13%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of VirginiaUniversity of South …University of Johann…Makerere University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of South AfricaSouth Africa 64.816.0%19.3×29 +13.3%
2University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 56.712.1%8.4×18 +22.3%
3University of VirginiaUnited States 54.046.4%4.0×9 +2.6%
4Makerere UniversityUganda 52.16.4%25.4×16 +28.0%
5Cornell UniversityUnited States 50.722.0%2.8×13 -2.8%
6University of Cape TownSouth Africa 50.516.1%13.6×16 -34.5%
7University of WashingtonUnited States 49.620.1%4.6×18 -35.9%
8University of NairobiKenya 47.98.9%29.6×15 +46.8%
9Georgia Institute of TechnologyUnited States 47.833.1%4.5×10 -40.4%
10University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 47.010.2%8.9×13 +36.4%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in ICT in Developing Communities, country by country

Is ICT in Developing Communities research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 7% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are ICT in Developing Communities.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is ICT in Developing Communities as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.013% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%ICT in Developing Communities0.019% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of ICT in Developing Communities over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%ICT in Developing Communities10.4% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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