Mapping the field of research on African higher education: a review of 6483 publications from 1980 to 2019

Zavale, Nelson Casimiro; Schneijderberg, Christian

dc.date.accessioned	2022-07-01T13:03:24Z
dc.date.available	2022-07-01T13:03:24Z
dc.date.issued	2020-11-16
dc.identifier	doi:10.17170/kobra-202111055033
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/13979
dc.description	The article Mapping the field of research on African higher education: a review of 6483 publications from 1980 to 2019, written by Nelson Casimiro Zavale and Christian Schneijderberg, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal on 16 November 2020 without open access. With the author(s)’ decision to opt for Open Choice the copyright of the article changed on 14 July 2021 to © The Author(s) 2020 and the article is forthwith distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.	eng
dc.description.sponsorship	Gefördert im Rahmen des Projekts DEAL	ger
dc.language.iso	eng	eng
dc.rights	Namensnennung 4.0 International	*
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	*
dc.subject	Africa	eng
dc.subject	higher education research	eng
dc.subject	systemativ review	eng
dc.subject	mapping the field	eng
dc.subject.ddc	370
dc.title	Mapping the field of research on African higher education: a review of 6483 publications from 1980 to 2019	eng
dc.type	Aufsatz
dcterms.abstract	Following a global trend, higher education (HE) in Africa has also become a complex enterprise, potentially demanding specific expertise in higher education research. However, despite this, there is a dearth of analysis into the state of research on African HE. This paper seeks to fill this gap by mapping and analysing African HE research. We undertake a systematic review of 6483 articles and books focusing on African HE published from 1980 to 2019 in indexed and non-indexed journals and book-publishers. We particularly examine the evolution of publications, the journals and book publishers, the authors’ affiliations, the researched countries, the publications’ thematic classification, the most prolific authors, and the most influential publications. Based on this analysis, we draw four main conclusions. First, research on African HE is a rather recent phenomenon or has witnessed a recent rise or renewal. Second, a few selected journals and book-publishers, particularly those with a strong regional or international reputation, dominate the field. Third, four communities of researchers are more represented: the community researching teaching and learning issues, the community focusing on structural transformation of HE, the community focusing on the internal organisation of HE and the community focusing on societal engagement of HE. Four, South Africa dominates the field both as home to most of the authors (including the most prolific) and the empirical field of most publications (including the most influential). If South Africa is excluded, African HE research is weak, but some communities are emerging, particularly in West, East and Southern Africa.	eng
dcterms.accessRights	open access
dcterms.creator	Zavale, Nelson Casimiro
dcterms.creator	Schneijderberg, Christian
dc.relation.doi	doi:10.1007/s10734-020-00649-5
dc.subject.swd	Afrika	ger
dc.subject.swd	Hochschulforschung	ger
dc.subject.swd	Analyse	ger
dc.type.version	publishedVersion
dcterms.source.identifier	eissn:1573-174X
dcterms.source.issue	Issue 1
dcterms.source.journal	Higher Education	eng
dcterms.source.pageinfo	199-233
dcterms.source.volume	Volume 83
kup.iskup	false