More challenges than just research questions for researchers from so-called developing countries

Many young researchers from so-called developing countries dream of a research career. However, the reality of the field shows that the challenge is not just limited to spending long hours in laboratories or months or even years looking for the right answers to research questions. This side of research activities constitutes the suspense that makes research fun, because finally getting results fills the researcher's heart with a sense of satisfaction and joy, and gives him or her pride, no matter what country in the world where they live and perform their research. The disillusioning reality for young people who want to do research in many countries classified as developing is mainly the lack of equipment (machines, devices, consumables), the limitation or absence of electrical power or internet connection, the brutality of various charges, the lack of funds to finance their research activities, to name some.

On the other hand, surprisingly, while in developed countries like the USA, many physics departments are struggling with student enrollment or having fewer than 20 or 30 physics majors at the undergraduate level, universities in many of the so-called developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, have high physics enrollments. The University of Dschang in Cameroon, which is not the biggest in the Country, got 87 Physic Masters defended in the single year 2023, a number that some developed countries can just dream of!

Professor Paul Woafo from the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon recently published in a Newspaper called “The Post”, N° 02433 from 2024/18/01, a report on some statistics on science results in Cameroon. He revealed that between 1996 and 2023, Cameroonians published 1415 papers in computer science, 851 in energy, 2564 in engineering, 1259 in materials sciences, 2435 in mathematics, 969 in chemistry, 2968 in physics and astronomy, and 1760 in environmental and planetary sciences.

The question is: How do researchers in the above-mentioned countries manage to create strong research groups and produce valid scientific results in such complex contexts as mentioned above?