Who Shapes the Narrative on African Politics?

By Zack Zimbalist

Who produces scholarly knowledge about “African politics”? In a forthcoming article titled “Dominating the Narrative: How Scholars Outside of Africa Define African Politics in the Top Political Science Journals,” my co-author Elisa Omodei and I use a citation network approach to investigate the influence of African and Africa-based scholars in the top 20 Political Science journals since the 1950s.

We find that African and Africa-based authors are systematically underrepresented among the most influential authors today. African and Africa-based scholars experienced a brief period of rising influence between 2000 and 2010, but their influence has declined substantially since then. We highlight two key factors associated with this recent decline: (1) the rising competitiveness of top-tier Political Science journals, which are increasingly privileging particular quantitative methodologies that require substantial financial resources and training; (2) increasing rates of citation of non-African and non-Africa-based scholars in leading Political Science journals.

The paper concludes with a set of recommendations to promote greater inclusivity and pluralism, including reforms to peer review and journal editorial practices that disadvantage Africa-based scholars, with broader implications for Political Science.

Read the full article: Dominating the Narrative: How Scholars Outside of Africa Define African Politics in the Top Political Science Journals | PS: Political Science & Politics | Cambridge Core

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