Issue

Vol. 23 No. 1 (2025): Journal of Higher Education in Africa: Special Issue on Decolonising Knowledge Production in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts

Bibliometric Coloniality in Africa

Challenges, Drivers and Strategies for Resistance
https://doi.org/10.57054/jhea.v23i1.6491
Savo Heleta

Corresponding Author(s) : Savo Heleta

sheleta@gmail.com

Journal of Higher Education in Africa, Vol. 23 No. 1 (2025): Journal of Higher Education in Africa: Special Issue on Decolonising Knowledge Production in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts

Abstract

 


This conceptual paper critically engages with bibliometric coloniality, a concept that refers to the systems and structures of domination of global academic publishing by scholarly indexes and academic bodies based in Europe and North America. These indexes serve as gatekeepers of academic credibility, relevance and visibility. Due to the domination of journals from the Global North and the absence of African journals in major scholarly indexes, most academic journals from Africa are marginalised and remain largely invisible on the global stage. The article offers a decolonial critique of the challenges linked to bibliometric coloniality and Euro-American hegemony in knowledge production and dissemination. It highlights and synthesises key directions and options for addressing, resisting and/or dismantling global bibliometric coloniality. The article also explores how to begin tackling the challenges and hegemonies linked to bibliometric coloniality on the African continent, whether inclusion in dominant indexes or the development of an African scholarly index should be prioritised, and where to find resources and funding for the development of comprehensive scholarly infrastructure and platforms in Africa.

Keywords

Bibliometric coloniality academic publishing coloniality of knowledge decolonisation Africa
Heleta, S. (2026). Bibliometric Coloniality in Africa: Challenges, Drivers and Strategies for Resistance. Journal of Higher Education in Africa, 23(1), 37–58. https://doi.org/10.57054/jhea.v23i1.6491
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Author Biography

Savo Heleta

Research associate with the Chair for Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation (CriSHET), Nelson Mandela University, South Africa.

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