The Neo-Colonial Political Economy of Scholarly Publishing: Its UK-US Origins, Maxwell’s Role, and Implications for Sub-Saharan Africa
Date
2021-05-31
Authors
Gray, Eve
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg
Abstract
The prevailing dynamics of today’s global scholarly publishing ecosystem were
largely established by UK and US publishing interests in the years immediately after
the Second World War. With a central role played by publisher Robert Maxwell,
the two nations that emerged victorious from the war were able to dilute the power
of German-language academic publishing—dominant before the war—and bring
English-language scholarship, and in particular English-language journals, to the
fore. Driven by intertwined nationalist, commercial, and technological ambitions,
English-language academic journals and impact metrics gained preeminence through
narratives grounded in ideas of “global” reach and values of “excellence”—while “local”
scholarly publishing in sub-Saharan Africa, as in much of the developing world, was
marginalised. These dynamics established in the post-war era still largely hold true
today, and need to be dismantled in the interests of more equitable global scholarship
and socio-economic development.
Description
Keywords
scholarly publishing, academic journals, global science, universities, colonialism, decolonisation, impact metrics, distribution rights, copyright, fair use, fair dealing, Robert Maxwell, UK, US, sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa
Citation
Gray, E. (2021). The neo-colonial political economy of scholarly publishing: Its UK-US origins, Maxwell’s role, and implications for sub-Saharan Africa. The African Journal of Information and Communication (AJIC), 27, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.23962/10539/31367