Paper short abstract:

This work focused on the causes of poor visibility of African research/researchers internationally. The findings from southern Nigeria traced this challenge to lack of funding by African leaders, scarcity of indigenous African journals internationally, difficulty in publishing in renowned journals.

Paper long abstract:

The African researcher faced great difficulties in accessing reputable international academic works as well as in writing an academic paper that meets international standards required for publication in highly reputable journals. This has made African researchers and their researches increasingly less visible to the international academic world. The main purpose of this study is to find the causative factors for the poor visibility of African research/researchers internationally. A sample size of 400 researchers was used for this study through random selection of 20 researchers per a tertiary institution for twenty (20) tertiary institutions. The instrument: Causes of poor visibility of African researchers and their works internationally scale was used for data collection. It was found to be valid and reliable. The resulting data was analysed using mean and standard deviation. The research traced the poor visibility of African research/researchers to the relative high cost of publication in journals; lack of updated information on African countries; paucity of African journals in the libraries of developed countries; and African leaders lack interest in collection/keeping of accurate data on national issues and funding of research works. The identified causes of poor visibility of African researchers/research at international levels have to be eradicated if their visibility level must improve. The leaders of African countries and other stakeholders in research works should make research easier, interesting and more affordable to the African researchers.

Paper short abstract:

Contributions to academic knowledge production of 'research assistants', brokers, or local researchers, are typically not adequately represented, discussed, and honoured in academic publications. Here, we plea to search for possible solutions at three different levels.

Paper long abstract:

Even today there are scholars working on Africa who present themselves as lonely wolves, not revealing much about their collaborations with 'research assistants', brokers, local researchers, or other collaborators. However, academic knowledge production is never the work of a single individual, not least because researchers regularly work in research teams as part of bigger (often interdisciplinary) projects. People from various world regions with diverse backgrounds contribute during the different phases of data gathering, data procession, data analysis, as well as during the writing and publication processes. Still, contributions of some crucial actors are typically not adequately represented, discussed, and honoured in academic publications. Often, they are just mentioned briefly in the acknowledgments - if at all.

We are convinced that incorporating these collaborators' voices is a first step to move beyond the "hidden colonialism" (Middleton and Pradhan 2014: 371) in academic publishing. We argue, however, that academic knowledge production should move beyond recognition. We plea to search for possible solutions at different levels: Firstly, every researcher should reflect upon the role of collaborators in terms of ethics, contract, joint publications and so on - already at the stage of a project's conceptualization. Secondly, university departments and funding institutions should discuss best practices based on which guidelines are to be developed. Thirdly, academic publications should include mandatory section in which researchers reveal the involvement of and pay credit to the contributions of 'research assistants', brokers, local researchers, or further collaborators.

Paper short abstract:

In this roundtable, I would like to share my experiences as managing editor of the Africanist journal Stichproben. Vienna Journal of African Studies. Since 2001, it has been published twice a year in print and online as full open access publication (https://stichproben.univie.ac.at/home/).

Paper long abstract:

The journal Stichproben is published by an association based at the Department of African Studies, University of Vienna, and has thus remained independent from the demands of a commercial publisher. This gives us flexibility, e.g. with regard to forms which texts might take or the languages in which articles can be published.

Moreover, there is also certain flexibility in the way the peer-review process is realised. It is an explicit aim of the journal to provide younger, less experienced scholars - whether based in Africa or elsewhere - with additional guidance and assistance in the process of revising their manuscripts than is commonly offered by journals in the field.

While maintaining high standards, the review process is adapted to the needs of the authors and might include corrections and/or detailed comments inserted directly in the document. Further, once it has been decided that a paper is accepted provided a satisfactory revision is achieved, the editorial team provides additional counselling in written or spoken which in most cases ultimately leads to a publishable paper.

I propose to discuss especially the broadening of language choices and the adaptation and individualisation of the peer-review process as strategies which can contribute to actually "bridge the gap" - between authors who enjoy support networks which enable them to produce papers that would also pass a formalised process and those who can only succeed in producing a publishable paper when additional efforts by reviewers and editors are made to guide them through the process.

Paper short abstract:

While training in research skills and academic is imperative, short-form writing, such as the 800-word Op-Ed piece in a national newspaper, instead of the 8000-word journal article, is an important skill in its own right, but also critical for enhancing academic knowledge about Africa.

Paper long abstract:

The reach and impact of academic writing from Africa about Africa for itself, and not primarily for Europe and North America, remains a challenge. But writing Africa well, meaning writing about Africa without surrendering to the seduction of (re)producing simplistic narratives about the continent, within a global economy of knowledge that might prefer precisely such narratives, is an even greater challenge. How then might we increase the magnitude, richness and influence of academic writing from across Africa about Africa? While training in research skills, academic writing, editing, and developing academic publishing spaces is of course imperative, I propose that short-form writing, such as the 800-word Op-Ed piece in a national newspaper, instead of the 8000-word journal article, is an important skill in its own right, but also for enhancing academic knowledge. Academics writing Africa well in newspapers about their research and arguments is as important for knowledge production, I will submit, and perhaps, sometimes even more important, than publishing in an academic journal as more intense discussions within society, and thus potentially greater influence, result from an Op-Ed than from a journal article.