Six Decades of Economic Inquiry in Sudan: Trends and Insights Online First

Abstract

This study aims to compile and assess six decades of economic research in Sudan. Descriptive statistics are presented based on an extensive analysis of 687 articles. Studies were obtained through keyword searching using digital libraries, including Scopus, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and Elicit AI tool. Papers were manually categorized into referred or non-referred publications. Most papers were published in refereed journals, followed by working papers. Trend analysis over time was conducted to analyse both paper counts and citations. It showed a sharp increase in publications between 2006 and 2012. This can be attributed to the fact that this period was significant to Sudan’s history, due to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 and the secession of South Sudan in 2011. Concerning fields and subfields, most reviewed papers fall under macroeconomics, followed by development economics. Moreover, most of the papers were written by single author, suggesting a lack of chances for collaborative research. Also, the analysis of authors by gender shows that women play a minor role in economic research in Sudan. Text analysis of abstracts is used to generate a thematic analysis of the published research. Conclusion, limitations, and future recommendations are then presented.

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