I began my academic journey in Nigeria, pursuing my master’s degree with the resources available to me: printed books, faculty-provided journals, online, and local library/repository collections. In our context in Nigeria, digitised academic content was not a primary concern. The printed materials on the library shelves and open-access journal articles accessible via Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and Academia were often considered sufficient for the research we conducted.
This same body of literature, and more particularly selected development communication texts and London Panos reports accessed online, later formed the foundation for my doctoral thesis proposal. However, upon traveling to the United Kingdom to advance my research, a critical issue surfaced. My Western supervisors struggled to verify my citations, not because they doubted the legitimacy of the work, but because the materials were simply not accessible online. What was valid, valuable, and widely acknowledged in Nigeria became inaccessible abroad.
That moment revealed a far deeper problem: a systemic and structural divide between African scholarship and the global academic infrastructure. In the Global North, vast academic works are digitised, indexed, and globally searchable via repositories such as Scopus and Web of Science and are, by standard, indexed on search engines and databases such as Google Scholar, among others. African publications, however, often remain offline, hampered by infrastructural limitations, prohibitive operational costs, and longstanding institutional barriers.
While a few make efforts to tick the boxes to be published in Western journals, many of the few submissions meet desk rejections, for reasons ranging from thematic focus to the overwhelming, highly competitive volume of global submissions. And so, the need for African research to be visible, to be read and heard, remains urgent.African scholars abroad, unable to access local materials, end up over-citing Western scholarship even when researching African contexts. This skews academic narratives, sidelines indigenous perspectives, and reinforces an unhealthy dependency on external voices to interpret African realities.
The urgency of this problem became personal. I had to reach back to Nigeria to have my cited works scanned and sent over, just to demonstrate their existence. Not every scholar would be in a position to do this. Many would yield to pressure, abandon vital local resources, and reshape their research to fit what was conveniently available online. This is not merely an academic inconvenience; it is a matter of knowledge justice.
This realisation marked a turning point. It became clear that the problem I faced was not mine alone. It was a challenge confronting countless African scholars and undermining global research equity. Most recently, while working on a collaborative paper, a colleague, in his draft, had cited only Western sources because African journals lacked DOIs and were not indexed internationally. That moment confirmed for me that the issue was systemic, cultural, and technological. Such cumulative experiences led to the founding of Research Africa, a digital platform committed to preserving, digitising, and amplifying African academic content.
At the heart of this initiative lies a clear mission: “Our mission is to increase the international visibility of reputable, peer-reviewed academic journals of African origin by hosting, publishing, indexing, and digitally distributing them. We aim to be the go-to platform for knowledge exchange and dissemination, contributing to the advancement of African research and development.”
Research Africa Publications is not merely an archive. It operates as a full scholarly publishing infrastructure. Beyond digitisation, we have implemented a comprehensive, modern journal management and peer review system, designed to international editorial standards. Submissions undergo a double-blind peer review process, mirroring the workflows of established global publishers such as Taylor & Francis and SAGE.
The platform streamlines every stage of scholarly publishing, from article submission to reviewer assignments, editorial decisions, and final publication. Automated, real-time notifications keep authors and reviewers informed throughout the process, eliminating the frustrating delays of conventional, email-based systems. This enhances transparency, reduces turnaround time, and fosters trust in the editorial process.It ensures that journals operating through Research Africa can offer globally competitive review and publishing standards, enhancing the credibility of African publications and restoring confidence among scholars both within and outside the continent.
We have already begun a pilot collaborative partnership, notably with Lagos State University, digitising one of their faculty journals and modernising their publishing workflows. Additionally, we are working to integrate DOIs into digitised journals, enabling them to be globally citable and indexed alongside international publications.
But this initiative is about far more than technology alone. It contributes to the decolonisation of knowledge, preserving Africa’s intellectual heritage, and promoting research inclusivity. By bridging this academic divide, we empower African scholars, elevate the continent’s contributions, and correct the global research imbalance that has long favoured external voices.
This aligns directly with our long-term vision: “To be the most robust and high-quality database for African journals, as well as a leading academic publishing company, recognised globally for promoting pan-African knowledge and bridging the gap between the global north and the Afro-global south.”
We envision a future where African scholarship is integrated within international research repositories and standards, making it accessible to both local and diaspora researchers. We aim to foster future collaborations, encourage diaspora scholars to publish in African journals without fear of diminished credibility, and position African academic work on equal footing with the world’s best. Finally, we advocate for policy reforms and funding priorities that will sustain this future. We urge education ministries, research councils, and funding bodies such as TETFund to actively invest in digitising, standardising, and promoting African scholarship.
Research Africa (researchafrica.pub) stands not merely as a digital platform but as a transformative intervention. It is a deliberate effort to reposition African knowledge within global academic discourse and to inspire a new era of research equity between the Global South and the Global North.
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