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

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. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.