NIGERIA’S LOW CONTRIBUTION TO RECOGNIZED WORLD RESEARCH LITERATURE: CAUSES AND REMEDIES

ABSTRACT

We present a first-time study on identifying the causes and remedies to Nigeria’s low contribution to globally recognized research literature. A mixed research approach involving 300 academic staff from several areas of specialization in southern Nigeria was adopted, using structured questionnaire and semi-structured interview schedule. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic technique. Furthermore, 43.7%, 28.6%, and 27.7% of the respondents were from the university, polytechnic, and college of education system, respectively. While 78.4% of the respondents agreed that the high cost of open access publication in top journals influenced Nigeria’s low contribution to research literature, over 75% reported that the low contribution was due to high cost of attending international conferences. Other factors identified were stringent conditions for paper acceptance (89.7%), scarcity of relevant information about Africa (85.4%), and paucity of high-impact journals in the libraries of Nigerian tertiary institutions (6.7%). Others were poor funding, non-usage of research findings by policymakers, lack of adequate facilities, and high penchant for publication in predatory journals, informed by promotion criteria not supportive of quality. Participants advocated for increased funding, reduced conference fees, and entrenchment of collaboration between reputable publishers abroad and African publishers.

KEYWORDS:

• Nigeria
• research literature
• reputable databases
• predatory publication
• contribution

Authors contributions

C.O. Alordiah and H. I. Owamah, conceived the theory, developed the research framework and methodology. C.O.Alordiah, E. J. A. Ogbinaka, M. O. Alordiah sourced for the data. C.O. Alordiah and H. I. Owamah analyzed the data and plotted the graphs. C.O. Alordiah and H. I. Owamah prepared and edited the manuscript. The results were discussed and commented on by all the authors. C.O. Alordiah and H. I. Owamah handled the submission and review processes.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest

Informed consent

The research involved human participants, who were informed about the use of the data and they signed a consent form.