An analysis of female research productivity in Nigerian universities

Abstract

This study examines the research output of female staff and the factors that affect their research productivity in the Nigerian university system. The study was carried out with a view to promoting strategies that will enhance productivity and increase the research output of female staff in Nigerian universities. The study adopted a survey research design. The purposive sampling method was used in administering questionnaires to 381 female academic staff from twelve randomly selected universities in the six geo‐political zones of Nigeria. The study revealed that female research output was generally low: 59.5 per cent of female academics published one paper annually; 23.6 per cent published up to two papers; 1.1 per cent published three papers; and 15.8 per cent did not publish on an annual basis. Although most female academic staff published annually, most wished to increase their publication rate. The study's results found that marital status, religion, academic position and number of hours of lectures per week had an impact on their ability to carry out research and publish the results. The study concluded that female academics made contributions that are more significant to teaching than research and that the Nigerian university system needs to develop strategies to enhance female research output.

Keywords:

• gender
• Nigeria
• productivity
• research
• universities

Acknowledgements

I thank Prof. O. Aina, Prof. A. Adewuyi and Mr. L. Birisiyu for their immense contributions, which is greatly appreciated.