Scientific research in the field of livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Mountain communities has been progressing slowly since 2002. This scientometric analysis paper shows trends in livelihood research in Sub-Saharan Mountain communities. The main aim of this paper is to show (1) the status of livelihoods research, (2) the current research directions of livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Mountain regions and the main areas of focus, and (3) the future of livelihoods research within the Sub-Saharan Mountain regions. Finally, it also provides a comparative analysis of livelihood research with other mountain regions in the world. Mountains are precarious environments replete with cultural, biodiversity and other ecological resources. Despite this precarity, there is a dearth of research on the livelihood futures of mountain communities, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. By engaging in a scientometric analysis, this paper presents a discussion of the state of livelihood research on Sub-Saharan African communities. It explores the knowledge repositories and documented community development pragmatisms essential for sustainable mountain communities. A scientometric analysis amplifies the livelihood capabilities of mountain communities and provides opportunities for a transformative mountain livelihood scholarship located in the knowledge repositories of mountain communities. An emphasis on mountain livelihoods in Africa is therefore important to “…shift the geography and biography of knowledge and to begin to articulate the experience of development from Africa as a privileged epistemic site capable of formulating its own development trajectory” (Ndlovu-Gatshen, 2019:46). This paper, therefore, undertakes an expansive scientometric review of livelihood strategies and approaches of mountain communities in Sub-Sharan Africa to envision the livelihood futures in the same communities. It also analyses how mountain communities thrive in these difficult environments, hence contributing to the theme of innovative pathways to thriving communities. Key Words: Scientometric review, mountain communities, livelihood research and Sub-Saharan Africa.
