This presentation provides an overview of my research on author affiliations and editorial boards in the field of development studies. The focus is the research question: to what extent are academics from developing countries participating in journals in the field of development studies as authors and as members of Editorial Boards?

1. Patterns of inequality in
knowledge production
Academic journals in the field of
development studies
Sarah Cummings, Knowledge Ecologist
EADI General Conference
26 June 2014

2.  IKM Emergent and EADI IMWG
 An interest in development knowledge and
knowledge divides
 Research at Radboud University Nijmegen with Prof.
Paul Hoebink
Background

3.  To what extent are academics from developing
countries participating in journals in the field of
development studies as authors and as members of
Editorial Boards?
Research question

4. Dahdouh-Gubas et al (2003)
 2798 articles from the Current Contents database
 Research carried out in the 48 least developed countries.
 70% articles did not have co-authors from the developing country
 Life Sciences having a much higher rate of collaboration (65%) than Basic
and Applied Sciences (27%) and Social and Human Sciences (5%)
 Explanations: lack of confidence, ignorance, negligence, or neo-colonial
science
Marginalisation of authors from
developing countries

5.  10 journals, including EJDR
 Web of Science interface for authors
 Journal websites for Editorial Board (backed up with
individual searches to identify gender)
 300 editorial board members
 1894 articles
 Period 2010-2012
Data collection

6.  Responsibility in knowledge production as a ‘key
rubric’ (Jazeel and McFarlane 2010)
 Equity in development
 Endogenous vs exogenous development (Robin
Mansell 2012)
Key concepts

7. Assemblages of journals, citation patterns, unequal
distributions of academic resources – whether in finance,
cultural capital or infrastructural capacity – as well as regimes
of graduate and staff training, constitute the bricks and mortar
through which research is conceived, conducted, produced and
reviewed… These institutional limits raise a range of questions
about how researchers in relatively privileged environs (in
global North or South) might channel resources, capacity,
training and research questions to ⁄ with colleagues who
regularly drop off or are actively removed from the academic
map (Jazeel and McFarlane 2010, p.121).
Responsibility

8.  Countries in the author affiliation
 Only papers
 More affiliations than papers
Author data

9. 2010 2011 2012 Total % of
total
Economic Development and
Cultural Change
26 27 26 79 4.2
Journal of Development Studies 86 92 113 291 15.4
Development and Change 44 46 56 146 7.7
World Development 138 171 182 491 25.9
Third World Quarterly 76 98 102 276 14.6
Canadian Journal of Development
Studies
66 28 30 124 6.5
Development Policy Review 35 39 38 112 5.9
Journal of International
Development
66 65 73 204 10.8
European Journal of Development
Research
36 38 40 114 6.0
Progress in Development Studies 21 18 18 57 3.0
Total 594 622 678 1894 100.0
Overview of articles included for the author sample

10. Percentage of total author locations from developing countries,

11. Total number of
author
locations per
country
% of 2509 total
author
locations
USA 560 22.3
UK 530 21.1
Canada 146 5.8
Netherlands 113 4.5
Germany 99 3.9
Australia 81 3.2
France 68 2.7
Belgium 57 2.3
India 56 2.2
Denmark 49 2.0
Other countries 750 29.9
2509 100.0
Author locations by country for 10 journals for the
2010-2012 period

12. Percentage of total author locations from the USA, UK and
other countries

13. Institutional author locations Country
No of
author
s % of 2509
University of London UK 142 5.7
World Bank USA 89 3.5
University of Manchester UK 62 2.5
University of Oxford UK 50 2
University of Sussex UK 47 1.9
International Food Policy
Research Institute (IFPRI) USA 46 1.8
University of California System USA 45 1.8
University of East Anglia UK 34 1.4
Erasmus University Rotterdam Netherlands 32 1.3
University of Reading UK 26 1
Wageningen University Research
Centre Netherlands 26 1
University of Copenhagen Denmark 22 0.9
Michigan State University USA 21 0.8
University of Cambridge UK 21 0.8
American University USA 19 0.8
Cornell University USA 19 0.8
Open University UK 19 0.8
University of Birmingham UK 19 0.8
739 29.5
Top 18 institutional author locations for 10 journals, 2010-2012

14.  Authors located in developing countries on average 5-
20% of all affiliations
 Top 10 countries responsible for 70.1% of all affiliations
 Authors in UK and USA dominating with 55-25% 0f all
affiliations (an average of 43.4%)
 Dominance of key institutions
Conclusions from author data

15.  Gatekeeper function
 Location and institutions
 From journal websites
 Follow up on personal websites: gender and editorial
board membership
Editorial Board data

16. Abbreviation Total number
of board
members
%
Economic Development and Cultural Change EDCC 13 4.3
Journal of Development Studies JDS 43 14.3
Development and Change D&C 45 15.0
World Development WD 30 10.0
Third World Quarterly TWQ 30 10.0
Canadian Journal of Development Studies CJDS 25 8.3
Development Policy Review DPR 27 9.0
Journal of International Development JID 22 7.3
European Journal of Development Research EJDR 29 9.7
Progress in Development Studies PiDS 36 12.0
300 100.0
Editorial boards of the sample journals

17. Total
number of
board
members
No of countries Developing
countries
Which countries?
Economic Development and Cultural
Change
13 4 0 0
Journal of Development Studies 43 12 1 India
Development and Change 45 14 5 China, Palestine, Bangladesh, South
Africa, India
World Development 30 13 2 India, South Africa
Third World Quarterly 30 5 1 Thailand
Canadian Journal of Development
Studies
25 4 0 0
Development Policy Review 27 8 5 Uganda, Ghana, India, Bolivia,
South Africa
Journal of International
Development
22 7 2 Zimbabwe, India
European Journal of Development
Research
29 16 3 India, South Africa, China
Progress in Development Studies 36 11 2 India, Zimbabwe
Average 30 9.4 2.1
Overview of editorial boards of the sample journals

18. Links between the top 11 institutions and the
editorial boards of the 10 journals

19. Male Female Total
No % No % No %
Economic Development
and Cultural Change
12 92.3 1 7.7 13 100.0
Journal of Development
Studies
34 79.1 9 20.9 43
100.0
Development and
Change
32 71.1 13 28.9 45 100.0
World Development 23 76.7 7 23.3 30 100.0
Third World Quarterly 26 86.7 4 13.3 30 100.0
Canadian Journal of
Development Studies
15 60.0 10 40.0 25 100.0
Development Policy
Review
20 74.1 7 25.9 27 100.0
Journal of International
Development
11 50.0 11 50.0 22 100.0
European Journal of
Development Research
21 72.4 8 27.6 29 100.0
Progress in
Development Studies
26 72.2 9 25.0 36 100.0
220 73.3 79 26.3 300 100.0
Gender representation on editorial boards

20.  Dominance by key institutions
 Limited representation of academics from developing
countries and women
Editorial board: conclusions

21. Values in academic publishing
Equity
Responsibility
Academic
excellence
Values
Exogenous
development
Combined
exogenous and
endogenous
development
Endogenous
development
Throughputof
academicarticles
Model of development
Moredeveloped
countryauthors
Moredeveloping
countryauthors

22. Development is, most of all, the result of the synergy
among millions of innovative initiatives people take every
day in their local societies, generating new and more
effective ways of producing, trading, and managing their
resources and their institutions. The work of policy
makers and development agencies may contribute greatly
to the success of those initiatives, may shape them, or
may undermine those efforts. (Ferreira, 2009, p.99)
Development is endogenous

23. Does this matter?
Thank you for your attention!