Abstract:
Do world-leading researchers from developing countries contribute to upgrading locally, or do they
disengage from the local context? The paper investigates the scientific collaborations of university-based
science and technology researchers in the database of the South African National Research Foundation
(NRF), and analyses the co-authorships of researchers who were ranked by the NRF during the 2001–2007
period. To establish the extent to which a researcher can access knowledge outside the South African
academic science and technology research community, and share it inside that community, we develop
a measure of ‘gatekeeping’. The evidence suggests that there is not a local/global trade-off in knowledge
creation in academia in the developing world, and that the world-leading researchers in developing
countries may play an especially important role as conduits of new knowledge in their country
