There has been a substantial increase in published research on various aspects of the economies of African countries over the past couple of decades, giving rise to questions such as “who does the research” – is it scholars on and from the continent, or is it scholars from the developed world – as well as “is the research concentrated geographically” and “what is the nature and extent of collaboration between researchers”? Here, social network analysis is used to address the last of these questions in the field of the economics of African agricultural development. The results show an unexpected high degree of collaboration between African and developed country scholars, and the prominent role of international institutions, especially from the CGIAR, in fostering collaboration.