Over the years, there has been a
tremendous increase in research output by researchers particularly those in
Africa. The reasons for this phenomenon could be attributed to various factors.
Firstly, it could be that African researchers have woken up from their slumber
and have started working. Furthermore, this sudden rise in research output
could also be ascribed to the “publish or perish” mantra in most academic
institutions. This has emanated as a result of a string attached to promotion
in most academic institutions. Faculty is required to publish a number of
articles as one criterion to qualify for promotion. And as humans, everybody
wants to attain a level of self-actualisation and so are forced to embark on a
research agenda. This, perhaps might be a key reason for the increasing
research output in Africa.
Another reason that comes to mind
is “funding”. This, conceivably, is the major reason. It is evident that most
funding agencies have developed interest in Africa and for that reason,
research in Africa. Funding, which for a long time had been a major stumbling
block to publications in Africa is gradually becoming a stepping stone. All
these factors lead to the benefit of Africa. They are good initiatives and need
to be encouraged. Together, they have helped to advance knowledge, discovered
our values, built our philosophies and moulded our culture.
One key challenge to these
initiatives is the lack of visibility of the research outputs from these
investments and also low levels assigned to these articles. Generally, authors
tend to depend on journals to make their articles visible or valuable. This has
been in the form of bibliometric analysis (Journal Impact Factor, H-Index,
Percent cited/uncited papers- Absolute, among others). This write up does not
intend to deal with the various metrics. Possibly, it will be the focus of
subsequent posts. Bibliometrics analysis tend to evaluate the value of research
outputs using various quantitative analysis. Thus, if an article appears for
instance, in a high Impact Factor Journal, then that article is considered to
be valuable.
Bibliometrics analysis has helped
to determine the value of research production which has aided academic
institutions, funding organisations and government agencies to know the value
they should ascribe to a particular research work. This notwithstanding, many
are of the view that this metric has inherent flaws. One of such flaws is that
if somebody publishes an original research with intrinsic benefits to society
in a less known journal (without any impact factor), that article is not going
to be considered as valuable. Again, there has been instances where individuals
have engaged others to cite their works frequently in order to increase their
citation index which leads to a favourable impact factor. Moreover, we are all
aware of the long period it takes for some articles to get cited. Thus,
regardless their value, once they have not been cited, it is considered
“valueless”.
Critics of the bibliometric system
of analysing research impact are advocating for what has become known as the
altmetrics. This involves the use of the web 2.0 technology to increase the
visibility of articles. They argue that once articles are visible, people will
use them, download them, cite them which in the long run will lead to increased
value. In that sense, proponents are making cases for the use of social media
(facebook, twitter, etc), LinkedIn, ResearchGate, ORCID, among others. They
emphasise on visibility of the article.
It is important to state here that,
all the two methods of evaluating articles are essential and one complements
the other to get a holistic approach in evaluating research impact. This is
where the role of the librarian is important. Librarians have always been
considered as partners in the knowledge industry. They are either producing
knowledge themselves or aiding others in that regard. But what is the essence
when all these efforts do not lead to valuable outputs of researchers or visible
produce from these researchers. Librarians have to ensure that researchers
choose the right journal for their articles and should lead in a crusade to
market these outputs.
Thus, whether it is bibliometric or
altmetric, the librarian can never be left out. Librarians understand these
better. It is a high time libraries developed policies that will help to
increase the value and visibility of research outputs of their users.
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