The effect of research collaboration (RC) on citation impact (the citations that the scientific knowledge has received) has been studied over the years. However, the extant literature has not considered that the effect of RC can not be efficiently assessed if the level of development of the research and innovation system (RIS) of the collaborating countries is disregarded. I have addressed this gap by looking at the articles published by 36 countries and controlling for other variables that also influence citation impact. The results show that the higher the development of the RIS, the higher the citation impact, as measured by the percentile each article occupies in the respective Web of Science subject area, of single–authored articles and of articles with domestic research collaboration (DRC). The articles representing DRC always have a higher citation impact than single-authored articles, regardless of the level of development of RIS of the countries. Even the articles representing an international research collaboration do not always have a higher impact than single-authored articles; (1) there is no statistically significant difference between the citation impact of articles published in collaboration between scientists from countries considered strong innovators and modest innovators and the citation impact of single-authored articles of scientists from countries considered strong innovators; and (2) articles published by scientists from countries considered innovation leaders in collaboration with scientists from countries considered modest innovators have a lower impact than single-authored articles published by scientists from countries considered innovation leaders. In general, collaboration between scientists from countries with a well-developed RIS and those with a less developed RIS results in articles with a lower citation impact than articles with DRC originating from scientists from countries with a well-developed RIS and higher than articles with DRC originating from scientists from countries with a less developed RIS.

International research collaboration (IRC) has been relevant for the development of national scientific systems. In Africa, given the limited resources devoted to research and development (R&D) activities and the crucial role that scientific knowledge generated through research activities can have in socioeconomic development, IRC may be an opportunity to strengthen scientific capabilities. While geographical, economic, political/governance, cultural, intellectual and excellence distance hampers IRC in other regions, we argue that economic and excellence distances actuate differently in Africa. We explored the impact of the variables above in addition to the information and communication technologies (ICTs), and social distances on the IRC of these countries. Using panel data for 54 African economies, our results show that economic distance fosters IRC while governance and excellence distances are non-significant. Past collaborations (one out of two proxies for social distance) and speaking the same language have the highest effect on IRC, and ICTs distance the lowest. The results have implications for science policy in Africa. For instance, we argue that science policies need to be adapted to each environment as the scientific landscape in each country is unique.