Challenges for African Scholars in the Globalization Era: Contexts Speak

Abstract

African researchers could have contributed vital scientific products to the world’s scientific enterprise, yet they have a limited share. There is even a piece of evidence that shows that their role has been falling in the scientific research publication. This has a direct bearing on the development of research, knowledge, and technology transfer in Africa. There have been a few attempts to comprehend this dearth; however, most of the endeavors have been from outsiders’ points of view. The objective of this study is, therefore, to uncover the hands-on challenges of African scholars and bring into the spotlight from the native Africans’ perspectives. The essential motivation behind this study is to evoke a subject of scholarly forums on how to extend their contributions to scientific repertoire amidst tremendous challenges. Data were collected from all the accessible scholars from six African countries through focus group discussions. A qualitative research approach based on a grounded theory method was used to handle the data collected from the participants. The present findings show that African scholars’ challenges are progressively complex and long-standing. The challenges span personal inadequacies to the more extensive system-related issues. Therefore, calling for forums for Africans and the international communities to discuss the challenges for reasonable intervention stands indispensable. It will be, therefore, possible to increase their share of the world’s scientific repository and improve their scientific research works.