Bibliometric Data on Top 50 African Ophthalmologists

This dataset supports a bibliometric study aimed at identifying and analyzing the most prolific ophthalmology researchers affiliated with African medical schools. To develop this dataset, we first compiled a comprehensive list of over 100 African medical schools known to have ophthalmology departments or faculties. Using Scopus, we executed a structured search strategy that combined general ophthalmic terms (e.g., “cataract,” “glaucoma,” “myopia,” “diabetic retinopathy”) with each institution's name. We manually reviewed and verified the resulting author affiliations and publication relevance in two screening phases to ensure the inclusion of only active ophthalmology researchers with current or past institutional ties to African medical schools. The dataset comprises 50 top-ranked researchers and includes key bibliometric metrics such as Scopus Author ID, affiliated institution, country, sex, h-index, total citations, publication count, and active publishing span. We also collected additional non-ranking attributes for deeper academic profiling—namely SciVal Topic prominence, highest academic qualifications, and academic rank. The dataset was last updated on March 31, 2025, and stored in a structured Excel format to enable consistent referencing and analysis. The dataset offers valuable insights into geographic distribution, research productivity, and subject area concentration of ophthalmic research in Africa.