On the Troubling Question of the worth of Nigerian degrees By Semiu A. Akanmu

Mohammad Dahiru raised an unsurprising but troubling question on the quality of Nigeria-milled doctorate degrees. This essay hopes to expand the discourse. Without disowning the few (though negligible) quality journals in Nigeria, the majority which has overshadowed the few are jankara, they are not more than paper mills, with no knowledge production whatsoever. But, the problem is cyclical and extremely entangled. Fixing it must be comprehensive and strategic. 

I had once written about my nasty experience with a published journal article written by three Nigerian PhD holders. In the article, the research questions and the methodology are disparate, and with no identified problem statement. It is utterly ridiculous to have that in any academic journal publication. But if we cannot gate-keep flood of predatory and substandard journals, how will three PhD holders publish in such journal that has no solid review system, and how would they have written an article that is riddled with such methodological howlers? That tells about the worth of their doctorate degrees. And this is the central theme of Mohammad Dahiru's question.

Photo Credit: Daily Trust

 Recently, I intend networking with a Nigerian academic in my field. I only know the first name and the name of his school. But since I was told he is a professor (of Computer Science), I was wrongly sure I will get him through Google Scholar, or through an extensive web search, expected to be fortified by the internet presence of his scholarly works. No. I was wrong.  As if that was not a sufficient disappointment, a journal article published by his institution -suggested to me during the web search -is not worthier than an undergraduate term paper. How will journal publication have no contribution to body of knowledge, no matter how little? It was just like an essay, or better still, reproduction of previously-made explanations on a subject matter, with no critique or systematic literature analysis. This is published as journal article by faculty members. The journal is institution-based. That is the worth of Nigeria-minted doctorate degrees.

But if we are to fix this abysmal scholarly performance, what should be done? First, the Nigerian academics must be humble enough to know and admit that the present obtainable situation in the country's scholarly publication is below par. Acknowledging there is a problem is a half way to its solution.

I will further suggest there is a regulatory body, like National Universities Commission (NUC) for universities, or an assigned department in this same NUC, accrediting and regulating these so-called Nigeria institutions' journals. This department, or agency, would come out with a generic rubric for manuscript rating and the acceptance score for all the accredited journals. It is possible to have different standard of journals as we have Q1 to Q4 in Scopus/ Web of Science. But none must fall short of an acceptable threshold. Each of these journals must have standard plagiarism checker, and the board of editorial reviewers must be composed with due attention to quality and integrity.  A sound review committee would be a condition for accreditation. The journals must also have web presence, and in this democratized and borderless knowledge sharing community, indexing in Google Scholar, for a start, is an easy shot. All international journals to be recognised by Nigeria academic community must be subjected to fair scrutiny. A vote of confidence from the said agency would be a prerequisite to its recognition. This is from the regulatory part.

Photo Credit: ScoopNg

 Also, Nigerian universities should stop this indiscriminate rating of journal publication for promotion. Journal is no Journal. Journals must be rated with its internationally-known standard. The faculty staffs' key performance indices must be based on this.  How will one use a year and more to get a journal publication when I can get one within 2 months and still be rated on the same score? This "journal is journal" rating kills qualitative production from desired persons.  I learned Nigeria universities are adopting "Institution-based journals" as the standard for acceptable journals. This is good, but it can only be result-driven if standardization of the local institutions' journals is firstly done.

If our academic publishing mechanism is fitted and internationally-comparative, the quality of the doctorate degree will automatically gear up. The faculty members will definitely readjust to new standard. Human capacity building will be initiated. Reforming the academics will not be a walk in the park, but it is doable, and it starts with every stakeholder in the Nigeria academic community.