Different manifestations of ‘context’: examples from a bibliometric study of research in Zimbabwe in Southern Africa

‘Context’ refers to the environment in which a phenomenon exists or takes place, and which can help to understand the phenomenon. Aspects of context are present in all bibliometric studies, but little scientific attention has been paid to how context manifests in bibliometric studies. This article, which is reflective and illustrative, argues that aspects of context can be applied or constructed. Three types of context application and three types of context construction are illustrated. This is done with reference to a bibliometric study of research in Zimbabwe, which analysed an integrated dataset of Scopus and Web of Science articles. In the study on which this article is based, context was applied as a background narrative, as part of data categorisation, and in the interpretation of findings. Context was further constructed by data categorisation, using different units of bibliometric analysis, and combining the bibliometric method with a non-bibliometric method. A schematic diagram of the identified types is presented, for other scholars to expand on and to continue to highlight the different manifestations of context in bibliometric studies.