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Paper short abstract:

Existing "equitable partnership frameworks" sidestep the urgent need for a profound rebalancing of the positioning of Africa and the "Global North" in the worldwide science and research ecosystem. We propose the Africa Charter for transformative research collaborations as a possible antidote.

Paper long abstract:

Debate on the need for more fairness in academic research collaborations between actors in Africa (or the ‘Global South’, broadly) and counterparts in the Global North has intensified in recent years, while practice-oriented frameworks and efforts to foster more equitable partnerships have proliferated. Important approaches to recognise and undo asymmetries in concrete collaboration arrangements – conceptual framing, division of labour, decision making, access to rewards, capacity building – have been identified. In this paper, we draw on African and other postcolonial, decolonial and feminist scholarship, as well as systems thinking and global science data, to argue that such ‘equitable partnerships’ efforts at best, sidestep the urgent need for a much more profound rebalancing of the positioning of Africa and ‘Global North’ in the worldwide science and research ecosystem as a whole. We consider why such wider rebalancing is imperative for both Africa and the global community, propose that research collaborations must be understood as a key entry point for advancing such a systemic shift, and suggest a necessary transformative collaboration mode to this end. We conclude by introducing the Africa Charter for transformative research collaborations, which offers a normative framework of principles for such a mode, and aspirations for policy and regulatory change across higher education sectors to embed it as best and standard practice.