THE CHALLENGES OF HIGH IMPACT RESEARCH PUBLISHING IN AFRICA: A CASE OF NIGERIA

Abstract

The dissemination of research findings in reputable journals is a pride for academics as it offers global visibility on online platforms. The purpose of the research is to examine the challenges academics faced in publishing in high-impact factor journals in Nigeria and the strategies to promote high-impact factor journals. We elicit data from 151 academics from tertiary institutions in Nigeria using Google Forms an online survey comprised of structured and unstructured questionnaires, and data were analyzed using tables, simple percentages, and bar-chart. The research findings show that is impossible to determine the impact factor of all journals and that too much emphasis on impact factors could trigger unethical practices in publishing. The study further shows that high-impact journals have rigorous and thorough peer review processes which make renowned scholars publish their articles due to their high impact. Thus, the articles to be published must be original, indigenous, scientific and of relevance to human development and not just copied and pasted articles. There is a need for funding journal publications and continuous training of academics on the dynamics of publishing quality journal papers. The study concludes that putting in place competent and reputed international scholars and enforcement of the ethics of publication will enhance the standards of Nigerian journals and must be easily accessible online.