Conducting and Publishing Research in Developing Countries: Challenges and Solutions

Abstract

Most of the knowledge in the library and information science (LIS) discipline is created and published by researchers in developed countries. Two roundtable sessions of ASIS&T SIG-III with the ASIS&T Africa Chapter and ASIS&T South Asia Chapter, in early 2021, confirmed "the lack of a conducive research environment" as the primary reason for this inequality in the discipline and called for systematic efforts, like this panel, to (a) create awareness about this inequality and (b) start building a global support system for LIS researchers in developing countries. In the first 30 minutes of this panel, six LIS scholars with cultural roots, academic training, and research experience in developing countries will illustrate common challenges to conducting and publishing research in developing countries. In the next 30 minutes, attendees will be divided into groups, with each group facilitated by a panelist, to brainstorm solutions for addressing the challenges related to academic training for conducting and publishing research, accessing resources, institutional support, opportunities for research collaboration and funding, fieldwork, analyzing data, composing manuscripts, and finding mentors, among others. In the last 30 minutes, each group will present its findings.

Characteristics of scholarly journals published in non‐English‐speaking countries: An analysis of Library and Information Science SCOPUS journals

“…Researchers in biology and related fields have actively discussed the importance of non‐English research in scholarly communication (Amano, Berdejo‐Espinola, et al, 2021; Amano, Rios Rojas, et al, 2021; Angulo et al, 2021; Khelifa et al, 2021; Márquez & Porras, 2020). In the LIS field, Potnis et al (2021) recently highlighted the value of research from developing countries and the challenges that researchers experience in these countries. However, discussion of the inclusion of non‐English‐language research in the LIS field is still lacking, and related research has focused on the level of internationality of LIS high‐impact journals.…”

Re‐Imagining International Research: Challenges and Approaches

“…Colonial legacy has been discussed in the LIS literature in the context of archival acquisition, digitization, repatriation, and international displaced archives (Britz & Lor, 2004; Jeurgens & Karabinos, 2020: Linebaugh & Lowry, 2021; Lowry, 2019), but not in other areas. Recent conference presentations introduce the topic of colonial legacy in empirical LIS research and discuss the challenges of conducting research in international contexts (Bautista‐Puig et al, 2021; Potnis et al, 2021). Of relevance is also LIS research that addresses the barriers in research with participants from marginalized communities or outlines the approaches to managing research projects in developing countries (Potnis et al, 2017; Potnis & Gala, 2020).…”