Paper short abstract:

This paper will examine African knowledge production and decolonization of political science with regard to its potential to contribute to democratic developments in Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will examine African knowledge production and its limitations in the discipline of political science. We will look at the profile of the African research output in the Web of Science and Sabinet databases. What is researched in Africa within the political science discipline? Where is it published? How much is it cited? After an overview of the trends over the last two decades in the whole continent, we will look at the developments in the leading national universities in Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe, countries representing different political trajectories but similar academic traditions including the use of the English language in university education. Our bibliometric analysis is complemented by interviews of scholars from these universities of their experiences in knowledge production. With regard to the potential of political science knowledge to contribute to local democratic developments, we will discuss decolonization of African political science, the pressure to publish in order to succeed in a university career vis-à-vis local policy relevance of the research work, resources to conduct research and the freedom to publish expert opinions on politics.