Abstract
Research and development are central to economic growth, and a key challenge for countries of the global South is that their research performance lags behind that of the global North. Yet, among Southern researchers, a few significantly outperform their peers and can be styled research “positive deviants” (PDs). In this paper we ask: who are those PDs, what are their characteristics and how are they able to overcome some of the challenges facing researchers in the global South? We examined a sample of 203 information systems researchers in Egypt who were classified into PDs and non-PDs (NPDs) through an analysis of their publication and citation data. Based on six citation metrics, we were able to identify and group 26 PDs. We then analysed their attributes, attitudes, practices, and publications using a mixed-methods approach involving interviews, a survey and analysis of publication-related datasets. Two predictive models were developed using partial least squares regression; the first predicted if a researcher is a PD or not using individual-level predictors and the second predicted if a paper is a paper of a PD or not using publication-level predictors. PDs represented 13% of the researchers but produced about half of all publications, and had almost double the citations of the overall NPD group. At the individual level, there were significant differences between both groups with regard to research collaborations, capacity development, and research directions. At the publication level, there were differences relating to the topics pursued, publication outlets targeted, and paper features such as length of abstract and number of authors.
Highlights
A nation’s scientific research capability, characterised by its direct engagement in the creation of knowledge, plays a vital role in its sustainable economic development, and the strong correlation between science and technology development and economic development is well documented (King, 2004; Man et al, 2004)
The main motivation of this study was to understand more about research in the global South through a first application of the data-powered positive deviance methodology; a methodology that helped identify and understand those researchers who were able to achieve better research outcomes than their peers
We used a combination of data sources and analytical techniques (PLS regression and topic modelling) to identify predictors of positively-deviant information systems researchers
Summary
A nation’s scientific research capability, characterised by its direct engagement in the creation of knowledge, plays a vital role in its sustainable economic development, and the strong correlation between science and technology development and economic development is well documented (King, 2004; Man et al, 2004). A clear research divide is visible between the global South and the global North. This can be seen in terms of research investment and capability. In 2018, global North countries produced an average of more than 35,000 scientific and technical journal articles per country while global South countries produced an average of 9700, or 4000 if China and India are excluded (World Bank, 2020). Despite some signs of progress, there remains an important gap in terms of per-country and per-researcher citation rates between North and South (Confraria et al, 2017; GonzalezBrambila et al, 2016). The divide in terms of highly-cited outputs is even starker, with global South researchers (again excluding China and India) authoring less than 2% of the top 1% most-cited articles globally (National Science Board, 2018)
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