Despite the growing global interest in smart city technologies and environmental monitoring systems, Africa remains relatively underrepresented in this scientific and technological landscape. Yet, African cities are experiencing rapid urban growth and face significant environmental challenges, including air pollution, waste mismanagement, limited environmental data infrastructure, and weak technological integration in urban governance. In addition, constraints related to research funding, digital infrastructure, and international scientific collaboration continue to limit the visibility of African research in this field. This context underscores the importance of assessing Africa’s contribution to the development of smart systems for environmental monitoring in smart cities and of identifying the extent to which African researchers, institutions, and countries participate in the global scientific landscape.

While smart city technologies and environmental monitoring systems attract increasing worldwide attention, Africa's presence in this scientific and technological field remains limited. African cities are growing rapidly and confronting serious environmental issues such as air pollution, poor waste management, insufficient environmental data systems, and inadequate technology integration in city governance. Furthermore, limited research funding, underdeveloped digital infrastructure, and restricted international scientific partnerships continue to reduce the visibility of African research in this area. This situation highlights the need to evaluate Africa's role in developing smart environmental monitoring systems for cities and to determine how extensively African researchers, institutions, and nations engage with the global scientific community.