Exploring China’s Emerging Role in Africa’s International Research Collaboration

China’s involvement in Africa has dramatically increased during the last few decades. This paper analyses the emerging role of China in Africa’s international research collaboration using data of African scientific publications from 1971 to 2019 in the Web of Science database. Utilizing a bibliometrics analysis strategy, this study provides an examination of the growth of China–Africa scientific research collaboration, followed by a detailed analysis of the patterns and dynamics, the implications for policy, and recommended actions to maximize collaboration for mutual benefit. The findings suggest that China is gaining an increasingly important position in Africa’s international research collaboration. China is now establishing contacts with African researchers through scholars from other countries. Surprisingly, publications involving Chinese researchers typically attract more citations. It demonstrates how scientific research collaboration differs from economic cooperation by nature. China–Africa scientific research collaboration is more about inclusive and win–win cooperation than an exclusive and zero-sum game.