## 3 Results
### Spatial Analysis on Affiliations and Study Areas  
As shown in Figure 4, France and the United States lead with the most first author affiliated publications, each contributing 25, followed by Germany with 19. Senegal follows  
Figure 3: Distribution of publications subdivided into different journal categories: (**a**) temporal and (**b**) overall. next with the most publications of the West African countries (8), alongside with the Netherlands. These five countries already represent over 50% of the studies. Belgium, Nigeria, and Denmark each contribute seven studies, followed by China contributing six articles, more than any other Asian country. There is a wide distribution of countries affiliated with less than five publications. Europe accounts for almost half of the publication affiliations (49.7%), followed by Africa (20.9%), North America (17.2%), Asia (9.8%), and South America and Australia each contributing two publications. The top West African countries in terms of first author affiliation are Senegal and Nigeria (seven studies) and Burkina Faso with five studies. One author, [PERSON] [34; 63; 64; 65; 66] from WASCAL (West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use) in Burkina Faso and University of Wurzburg has five publications. Two authors have four publications: [PERSON] [33; 67; 68; 69] from CIRAD (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development), Senegal and [PERSON] [45; 70; 71; 72] from CIRAD France. [PERSON] has three publications [73; 74; 75]. All other authors have two or fewer publications. Figure 5 displays the studied areas. Some studies were conducted in multiple regions rather than in a single country or with a coverage larger than a country area. Those are listed several times. In addition, there are ten studies covering West Africa, which are excluded from this graph for a more concise representation. Most studies have been conducted in Burkina Faso and Senegal (37 each), followed by Mali (32). These three countries constitute over 50% of the reviewed articles. Nigeria (22), Ghana (21), and Niger (19) are  
Figure 4: The bar plot displays the first author affiliation by country and by continent in the donut chart. also frequently the subject of research. Benin (nine), Mauretania, and Cote d'Ivoire (each have eight) show a moderate level of research interest, with several studies carried out. Gamba, Guinea, and Togo are studied less frequently, whereas Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Liberia (and St. Helena and Cabo Verde) are not represented in the articles in the context of this review besides the ten studies covering all of West Africa. The origin of a study's funding in relation to the study area is displayed in the Sankey graph in Figure 6. If a publication does not specify a funding source, the first author affiliation is taken as a proxy of the origin of the funding. The majority of the studies indicate a funding source. No distinction is made regarding the type and sources of funding--whether from governmental agency funding programs, NGOs, or private contributions. Only the country of origin is considered relevant. For instance, the \"Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation\" (BMGF) is categorized as USA funding and the German \"German Federal Ministry of Education and Research\" (BMBF) is identified as a German funding source. Additionally, there is international funding, in specific for the European Union, as well as one study that is solely financed by WorldBank, which is classified under \"Other\". In cases of multiple funding sources, the first mentioned source is used for the analysis. Studies that receive funding from a country represented by only one instance are categorized under \"Other\", including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Columbia, Japan, Morocco and an international funding solely through WorldBank. The largest share of funding comes from the United States, which accounts for 59 studies. Germany follows with 40 studies. Together, these two countries account for 47% of the studies.