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- Convenors:
-
Stephanie Kitchen
(International African Institute)
Mame-Penda BA (Gaston Berger University)
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- Chair:
-
David Mills
(University of Oxford)
- Discussant:
-
Faisal Garba
(University of Cape Town)
- Format:
- Roundtable
- Streams:
- Anthropology (x) Decoloniality & Knowledge Production (y)
- Location:
- Hörsaalgebäude, Hörsaal A2
- Start time:
- 1 June, 2023 at
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
GLOBAL AFRICA was launched in 2021. AFRICA approaches its centenary. We discuss the futures of such key journals and the challenges they face: the intense resources needed in environments of scarcity; contending with ‘Western’ standards; loss of essential publishing skills; and unequal Open Access.
Long Abstract:
The journal GLOBAL AFRICA was launched in Saint-Louis, Senegal, in 2021. By 2023 it will have published three issues. It is intended as an international, interdisciplinary journal, and part of a wider effort to promote African research. AFRICA, journal of the International African Institute, is approaching its centenary. Here we will discuss the futures of such key journals in African social sciences and humanities. The challenges facing GLOBAL AFRICA and others operating from francophone Africa are multi-dimensional: first, there is no publication without research; second, the intense resources and time required to accompany younger scholars through the process to high quality publication in environments of scarcity; third, the impossibility of trying to emulate ‘Western’ standards, whether or not these are desirable, and relatedly: what does it mean to be a blind peer reviewer? Fourth, academic journals everywhere are contending with the challenges of unequal Open Access, language(s) of publication, and funder requirements for publication of research data. Then there are practical questions: how to manage a journal where such essential skills as copy editing, proofreading and typesetting have largely disappeared, hence have to be outsourced to Western countries? How can appropriate training be revitalised in the African continent? What structures of support are required in terms of editorial boards and institutional buy-in? It is intended that this panel will provide the basis of a Special Issue of GLOBAL AFRICA. Contributions are invited on related topics including but not limited to journal citation indexes, African university presses, and academic book publishing.
Accepted contributions:
Session 1Contribution short abstract:
This paper considers the antecedents and aspirations that contribute to the success of scientific journals in Africa, giving particular consideration to communities - real and imaged, place-based and globally networked - and the roles they play in ensuring their sustainability.
Contribution long abstract:
The journal Global Africa has published two issues. It is a journal in its infancy and as such faces numerous challenges in establishing itself as part of Africa's scientific landscape. Importantly, the journal describes itself as a community, and aims to maintain an intellectual agenda focused on the African continent. This paper considers the antecedents and aspirations that contribute to the success of journals in Africa. It gives particular consideration to the importance of communities - real and imagined, place-based and globally networked - and the role they play in ensuring the sustainability of newly launched academic journals in Africa. It considers the possible tension between journals launched from within established scientific communities and aspirations for a more inclusive and representative pool of authors, or the tension between providing an outlet for 'local' science while remaining connected to global science. Finally, the importance of communities is explored in relation to other factors such as (the perception of) quality, peer review and access to resources. The paper adopts both a historical and contemporaneous perspective when examining these antecedent and aspirational conditions. Drawing on examples from the 19th century Cape Colony, it highlights historical continuities and key differences as well as the successes and future challenges facing two contemporary African journals.
Contribution short abstract:
The African Review has celebrated 50 years of its existence. In June 2019, the University of Dar es Salaam signed an agreement with Brill to publish the journal. The experience of this collaboration indicates that when a journal retains ownership and decision-making powers, it becomes successful.
Contribution long abstract:
In 2021, the African Review (TARE) celebrated 50 years of its existence. Founded by the Department of Political Science of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), it primarily focused to decolonize the interpretation of significant events in African politics which has been monopolized by foreign "experts". Over time, the journal reflects on contemporary issues of globalization, development, and African affairs in a way to address the North-South knowledge divide. For about 45 years, it largely depended on its Chief Editor who performed copyediting, proofreading and typesetting. Moreover, the journal was not published by a printing press. Without an institutionalized system, the management, processing and production of the journal proved challenging. Nonetheless, it attracted manuscripts from renowned scholars globally and published regularly. In 2018, the journal was for the first time published by the Dar es Salaam University Press. In June 2019, the UDSM signed an agreement with Brill to publish TARE. In the agreement, Brill provides the journal with infrastructural systems and undertakes final production and distribution of the journal. The UDSM, on the other hand, retains ownership of the journal copyright and performs all the editorial activities. This agreement has significantly institutionalized and improved the quality, indexing, distribution and visibility of the journal and industrial production. This paper holds that the future of journals from the Global South hinges on collaboration with established publishers. The experience of TARE indicates that when a journal retains ownership and decision-making powers in a collaboration, it exhibits high potentials of successes.
Contribution short abstract:
African Studies Quarterly, founded in 1997, faced many challenges over the past quarter century. Some were common to nearly any journal , others were new. While early obstacles were overcome, other challenges emerged from changes in the academic publishing environment and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Contribution long abstract:
African Studies Quarterly, founded in 1997, faced many challenges over the past quarter century. Some were common to nearly any journal startup, others were new: skepticism of an online-only format and complete lack of subscription fees; lack of connectivity (in the early years) and hence readability on the Continent itself; author uncertainty about impacts and recognition, etc. While these early obstacles were largely overcome - evidenced by more than 75% of ASQ submissions originating from Africa-based scholars over 2021/22 - other challenges emerged from broad changes in the academic publishing environment as well as the Covid-19 pandemic.
Contribution short abstract:
This paper analyses data on authorship across the field of African Studies, as well as submission, acceptance, peer review and usage data for the T&F African Studies journals portfolio.
Contribution long abstract:
Research can only be truly inclusive and global if voices from all locations, genders, ethnicities, backgrounds and areas of experience are heard and represented across all stages of knowledge production and academic publishing. The publishing process plays a key role in supporting the dissemination and impact of high-quality research within the research lifecycle, but it can also be a propagator of inequality. In this paper, I analyse data on authorship across the field of African Studies from a range of publishers, as well as in-house submission, acceptance rates, peer review figures and usage data for the Routledge, Taylor & Francis African Studies journals portfolio, exploring how we currently gauge diversity within knowledge production, whether journal networks have become more diverse in recent years, and how else diversity could be assessed going forward.