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Connecting Sustainable Development, Publishing Ethics, and the North-South Divide
https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2022/02/08/connecting-sustainable-de...
“Let me draw six situations to explain why contextualization is vital in reducing the above divide…”
This blog raises some interesting questions:
1. A group of researchers from the LMICs say “Thank you very much for the access to global scholarly publications. While we access the global research, we will publish our research only locally.” Should we call it unethical since it exploits free access to global research literature without publishing in ‘global’ journals?
2. High APCs may create “nationalistic scholarly isolation“, where Southern researchers, not being able to afford the APCs, are publishing research in local and regional journals. Can we blame the South for this?
3. There are Southern academic institutions which demand their researchers publish in local and regional journals. Doesn’t it deprive Southern researchers from enjoying their freedom to publish? But, can we criticize their institutions for imposing such a restriction which may be needed for the survival of these journals and to make regional research freely accessible regionally?
4. We see Southern researchers becoming coauthors of articles resulting from North-South collaborations and published in reputed journals only by supplying research materials, without significant intellectual contribution to the research or article writing. Should we hail such arrangement in the name of global scholarly inclusion?
5. Many governments in the South are reluctant to embrace evidence-guided policy and practice change — they are guided by the data and information their national agencies collect, not by the knowledge their researchers create. Isn’t this mindset jeopardizing the role of research in achieving sustainable development and the SDGs in those countries?
6. Can we expect Southern researchers and their institutions to abide by the ethical norms and guidelines articulated by the North without helping them to transform their systems or overcome their structural challenges?
Some of these questions are, I think rhetorical. From a personal perspective, my initial responses are:
1. No
2. No
3. No
4. No
5. Yes – but this is a global issue, not specifically a LMIC issue
6. The way forward is to be progressively more inclusive in defining ethical norms and values, so that the perspectives of LMICs are properly represented
What do you think?
Best wishes, Neil
Neil Pakenham-Walsh, HIFA Coordinator, neil@hifa.org www.hifa.org
