Towards decolonising the publishing ecosystem through a three-tier intervention to benefit early career scholars from South Africa, Ethiopia, and Uganda

Despite significant improvements in education levels in Africa, the continent is excluded from the inner edge of the global knowledge production structure, contributing only 1% to the world’s research output. Using action research, the proposed project aims to devise a new model of collaboration with African early career scholars through a three-tier intervention. This includes individual-level mentoring for 20 early career scholars from South Africa, Ethiopia, Uganda to enhance their publication opportunities (publishing at least 10 articles) as well as career prospects. At the journal level, we collaborate with chief editors of major international journals to secure space for our participants’ articles. Finally, at the author-editor level, we facilitate direct dialogue between African authors and chief editors to address systemic barriers to African scholarship in the publishing ecosystem. The project's impacts neatly dovetail with the selected countries’ Sustainable Development Goals (e.g. SDG 9) as well as the African Union’s vision.

Workshop Team: Dr Masi Noor, Keele University; Dr Peace Kiguwa, University of the Witwatersrand; Dr Idia Binitie Thurston, Northeastern University; Dr Kevin Durrheim, University of Johannesburg.