patterns of inequality in knowledge production: academic journals in the field of development...
DESCRIPTION
This presentation provides an overview of my research on author affiliations and editorial boards in the field of development studies. The focus is the research question: to what extent are academics from developing countries participating in journals in the field of development studies as authors and as members of Editorial Boards?TRANSCRIPT
Patterns of inequality in knowledge production
Academic journals in the field of development studies
Sarah Cummings, Knowledge Ecologist
EADI General Conference 26 June 2014
IKM Emergent and EADI IMWG An interest in development knowledge and
knowledge divides Research at Radboud University Nijmegen
with Prof. Paul Hoebink
Background
To what extent are academics from developing countries participating in journals in the field of development studies as authors and as members of Editorial Boards?
Research question
Dahdouh-Gubas et al (2003)
2798 articles from the Current Contents database Research carried out in the 48 least developed countries.
70% articles did not have co-authors from the developing country
Life Sciences having a much higher rate of collaboration (65%) than Basic and Applied Sciences (27%) and Social and Human Sciences (5%)
Explanations: lack of confidence, ignorance, negligence, or neo-colonial science
Marginalisation of authors from developing countries
10 journals, including EJDR Web of Science interface for authors Journal websites for Editorial Board (backed
up with individual searches to identify gender)
300 editorial board members 1894 articles Period 2010-2012
Data collection
Responsibility in knowledge production as a ‘key rubric’ (Jazeel and McFarlane 2010)
Equity in development Endogenous vs exogenous development
(Robin Mansell 2012)
Key concepts
Assemblages of journals, citation patterns, unequal distributions of academic resources – whether in finance, cultural capital or infrastructural capacity – as well as regimes of graduate and staff training, constitute the bricks and mortar through which research is conceived, conducted, produced and reviewed… These institutional limits raise a range of questions about how researchers in relatively privileged environs (in global North or South) might channel resources, capacity, training and research questions to ⁄ with colleagues who regularly drop off or are actively removed from the academic map (Jazeel and McFarlane 2010, p.121).
Responsibility
Countries in the author affiliation Only papers More affiliations than papers
Author data
2010 2011 2012
Total % of total
Economic Development and Cultural Change
26 27 26 79 4.2
Journal of Development Studies
86 92 113 291 15.4
Development and Change 44 46 56 146 7.7
World Development 138 171 182 491 25.9
Third World Quarterly 76 98 102 276 14.6
Canadian Journal of Development Studies
66 28 30 124 6.5
Development Policy Review 35 39 38 112 5.9
Journal of International Development
66 65 73 204 10.8
European Journal of Development Research
36 38 40 114 6.0
Progress in Development Studies
21 18 18 57 3.0
Total 594 622 678 1894 100.0
Overview of articles included for the author sample
Percentage of total author locations from developing countries,
Total number of author locations per country
% of 2509 total author locations
USA 560 22.3
UK 530 21.1
Canada 146 5.8
Netherlands 113 4.5
Germany 99 3.9
Australia 81 3.2
France 68 2.7
Belgium 57 2.3
India 56 2.2
Denmark 49 2.0
Other countries
750 29.9
2509 100.0
Author locations by country for 10 journals for the 2010-2012 period
Percentage of total author locations from the USA, UK and other countries
Institutional author locations Country
No of authors
% of 2509
University of London UK 142 5.7World Bank USA 89 3.5University of Manchester UK 62 2.5University of Oxford UK 50 2University of Sussex UK 47 1.9International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) USA 46 1.8University of California System USA 45 1.8University of East Anglia UK 34 1.4Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands 32 1.3University of Reading UK 26 1Wageningen University Research Centre Netherlands 26 1University of Copenhagen Denmark 22 0.9Michigan State University USA 21 0.8University of Cambridge UK 21 0.8American University USA 19 0.8Cornell University USA 19 0.8Open University UK 19 0.8University of Birmingham UK 19 0.8 739 29.5
Top 18 institutional author locations for 10 journals, 2010-2012
Authors located in developing countries on average 5-20% of all affiliations
Top 10 countries responsible for 70.1% of all affiliations
Authors in UK and USA dominating with 55-25% 0f all affiliations (an average of 43.4%)
Dominance of key institutions
Conclusions from author data
Gatekeeper function Location and institutions From journal websites Follow up on personal websites: gender and
editorial board membership
Editorial Board data
Abbreviation
Total number of board members
%
Economic Development and Cultural Change
EDCC 13 4.3
Journal of Development Studies JDS 43 14.3
Development and Change D&C 45 15.0World Development WD 30 10.0Third World Quarterly TWQ 30 10.0Canadian Journal of Development Studies CJDS 25 8.3
Development Policy Review DPR 27 9.0Journal of International Development JID 22 7.3
European Journal of Development Research
EJDR 29 9.7
Progress in Development Studies PiDS 36 12.0
300 100.0
Editorial boards of the sample journals
Total number of board members
No of countries
Developing countries
Which countries?
Economic Development and Cultural Change
13 4 0 0
Journal of Development Studies
43 12 1 India
Development and Change 45 14 5 China, Palestine, Bangladesh, South Africa, India
World Development 30 13 2 India, South Africa
Third World Quarterly 30 5 1 Thailand
Canadian Journal of Development Studies
25 4 0 0
Development Policy Review 27 8 5 Uganda, Ghana, India, Bolivia, South Africa
Journal of International Development
22 7 2 Zimbabwe, India
European Journal of Development Research
29 16 3 India, South Africa, China
Progress in Development Studies
36 11 2 India, Zimbabwe
Average 30 9.4 2.1
Overview of editorial boards of the sample journals
Links between the top 11 institutions and the editorial boards of the 10 journals
Male Female Total
No % No % No %Economic Development and Cultural Change
12 92.3 1 7.7 13 100.0
Journal of Development Studies
34 79.1
9 20.9 43 100.0
Development and Change
32 71.1 13 28.9 45 100.0
World Development 23 76.7 7 23.3 30 100.0
Third World Quarterly
26 86.7 4 13.3 30 100.0
Canadian Journal of Development Studies
15 60.0 10 40.0 25 100.0
Development Policy Review
20 74.1 7 25.9 27 100.0
Journal of International Development
11 50.0 11 50.0 22 100.0
European Journal of Development Research
21 72.4 8 27.6 29 100.0
Progress in Development Studies
26 72.2 9 25.0 36 100.0
220 73.3 79 26.3 300 100.0
Gender representation on editorial boards
Dominance by key institutions Limited representation of academics from
developing countries and women
Editorial board: conclusions
Values in academic publishing
Equity
Responsibility
Academic excellence
Values
Exogenous development
Combined exogenous and
endogenous development
Endogenous development
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Model of development Mo
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Development is, most of all, the result of the synergy among millions of innovative initiatives people take every day in their local societies, generating new and more effective ways of producing, trading, and managing their resources and their institutions. The work of policy makers and development agencies may contribute greatly to the success of those initiatives, may shape them, or may undermine those efforts. (Ferreira, 2009, p.99)
Development is endogenous
Does this matter?
Thank you for your attention!