By Ganiu Bamgbose
Publishing and publications stand at the core of scholarship anywhere in the world, especially in African higher institutions of learning where teaching and research scholars are same. Whether as expression of intellection or as a condition for job elevation, research is a crucial aspect of academia. Interestingly, the business of academic publication is not one that solely rests on the scholar’s intellectual sagacity. There are dynamics to it, especially as it concerns interests and outlets. I hope for this short piece to serve as a start of a continued conversation on the intricacies of publications, especially among budding and perhaps established African scholars. This is with a view to improving and consolidating the academic-cum-scholarly culture in Africa, especially in Nigeria.
My first thought on this topic is the need to establish that any idea is hardly too bad to be developed for academic or scholarly purpose. We must understand as young scholars that when rigour meets with any idea/conception at all, a good research work is not impossible. Anything at all that can be observed can be described and whatever can be described can be the focus of an academic inquiry. Many times, the best of ideas come from the weirdest or craziest of thoughts that strike you in your natural state. To start and get stuck is always better than to conceive and not strike. Do not immediately jettison that next thought as not being research worthy.
Again, beware of narcissistic or dogmatic colleagues or mentors who do not believe in whatever does not interest them. Many persons have had to abandon topics or subjects of interest because people they hold in high esteem have expressed pessimism on such topics. While this is not to say that our ideas cannot get critiqued by others, we must beware of people who make outright condemnation of others’ conceptualisations. Our first task is to see from the lens of the owner of the idea, not from ours.
Moving on on, we must also learn to dare as scholars. Do not think or be made to think that your work is not good enough for some outlets. Dare to send them there. You will not be sued for trying; you will only be given a reason for rejection which will come with insight on how to do it better next time. I have published in at least seven outlets that all turned me down at my first attempt. Like my academic father, Professor Adesina Sunday, and another renowned linguist, Professor Francis Egbokhare, would always say, “run away from any senior colleague who tells you they have never been rejected. That certainly is a lie”. In fact, Professor Egbokhare would add “I have got rejections even as a professor”. This makes it okay to dare to send your works to those reputable outlets. Nobody has been sued or died for doing so. This is because someday you would read works that are not as good as yours in very reputable journals and you would wish you had dared to try out such outlets.
Another strong side to the dynamics of publication is the interest and bias of journals. One very common mistake young scholars, especially, make is sending out works to journals without paying attention to their interest or bias. A colleague announces their publication in a journal and we immediately think we can send a paper we have also just completed to the journal because we belong to the same department with that colleague. Whereas, there are research interests even within a discipline. In applied linguistics for instance, some journals would not publish data with literary texts, others that publish data with literary texts may not publish papers with just one text. All of such internal policies must be understood before considering a journal.
Beyond interest is also bias. Some editors and even journals might have preferences for some unpronounced ideological stances and once your work does not align, you get the impression that it is not good enough. Before you are tempted to now settle for less because a journal turns down your article even before peer-review, you need to make findings on their ideological position. You may realise a bigger and better journal has preference for your kind of inquiry.
Like I said, this short piece is intended as a conversation which should continue on the dynamics and intricacies of publishing and publications among Nigerian scholars.
(c) 2025 Ganiu Bamgbose writes from the Department of English, Lagos State University.
