1,720,957 research outputs found
Navigating the neoliberal university: A collaborative autoethnography of emerging scholars
Full text linkIn the dynamic landscape of the neoliberal university, conversations between emerging scholars serve as vital spaces for critical reflection and transformative action. This collaborative autoethnographic study engaged with the complexities of navigating academia as two black clinical psychologists within a South African university. Drawing on decoloniality, we interrogated the pervasive ‘carrying on’ culture and its impact on early-career academics. Our lived experiences underscored the intersections of identity, power and resistance, as we grappled with the commodification of higher education and the pressures to ascend the ranks hastily. Through a reflexive thematic analysis of our recorded discussions, we uncovered mechanisms for disrupting normative structures and redefining the purpose of scholarly pursuits. Central to our inquiry was the notion of refusal as a generative force, challenging the status quo and advocating for a more conducive, supportive environment where teaching and learning activities are genuine expressions of growth. We envisioned a university that fosters meaningful intellectual engagement and societal transformation, calling for collective dialogue and action to reimagine the neoliberal higher education landscape.
Contribution: Our study contributes to the ongoing conversation on decolonising academia, offering insights into the struggles and aspirations of emerging scholars in the Global South, and advocating for a transformative praxis that nurtures authentic intellectual pursuits and collective well-being within academia
Naming the “Brown Thing”: racial consciousness in the Ivory Tower
Full text linkIntroductionThis paper explores the ethical and emotional dimensions of engaging critical racial consciousness in South African higher education. Racialised educators, particularly Black academics, continue to navigate pedagogical spaces shaped by institutional Whiteness, subtle yet persistent norms that privilege Eurocentric standards and misrecognize non-White authority and experience.MethodsUsing collaborative autoethnography and critical incident analysis, two Black academics engaged in a series of recorded reflective conversations. These dialogues served as both data and analytic spaces. Through retrospective discussion, ethically charged incidents from teaching and supervision were identified, revisited and interpreted.ResultsThe narratives reveal how misrecognition and racialised silencing surface in everyday academic encounters, through both overt critique and quiet erasure. These moments disrupt normative routines and compel educators to examine their complicity, positionality and pedagogical stance. Key themes include the emotional labor of teaching, the tension between care and compliance, and the institutional conditions that render Black authority negotiable.DiscussionRather than seeking closure, the paper argues for staying with the discomfort of ethical ruptures as a pedagogical and political strategy. It positions critical reflection and vulnerability as necessary for decolonial praxis. We propose that humanizing education begins by naming the “Brown Thing”: the embodied, affective, and often unspoken realities of race in the Ivory Tower
A qualitative study illustrating factors that enable and constrain academic advising practices in a Global South context
Full text linkIntroductionAcademic advising plays a crucial role in South African higher education, especially considering the country’s diverse student population, historical injustices, and socio-economic inequalities. However, there is a lack of research supporting academic advising practices in this context.MethodsThis study employs a qualitative methodology, using semi-structured in-depth interviews with four academic advisors from the Engineering, Built Environment, and Information Technology (EBIT) department at a South African university. A socio-ecological lens is applied to explore the factors enabling and constraining best practices in academic advising.ResultsKey findings reveal that academic advisors face challenges such as limited resources and institutional support. However, opportunities exist for fostering student resilience and academic success. The study identifies enablers and constraints across microsystemic (e.g., advisor passion and resilience), mesosystemic (e.g., interdepartmental collaboration), and macrosystemic (e.g., institutional policies, socio-economic factors) levels.DiscussionAs part of the Global South, South Africa shares many socio-economic and educational challenges with other countries in the region. The study’s findings offer insights that may be relevant to similar contexts. By illuminating the mechanisms that empower the academic advising community, this research seeks to inform the development of more effective student support interventions. The socio-ecological framework provides a comprehensive understanding of the interconnected influences contributing to the efficacy and challenges faced by academic advisors in engineering departments
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
From fear to fortitude: academic adjustment during COVID-19 among South African undergraduates
Full text linkIntroductionThe outbreak of COVID-19 introduced unprecedented uncertainty worldwide, with South Africa being no exception. There is a paucity of information on the impacts of academic adjustment and fear of COVID-19 among undergraduate students in a new university environment. This study aimed to examine the relationship between academic adjustment and fear of COVID-19 among undergraduate students enrolled at a South African University.MethodsA cross-sectional correlational research design was employed, utilizing web-based questionnaires that combined the Academic Adjustment Scale and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. The theoretical framework used was the self-transcendence theory, supported by theoretical perspectives on adjustment and differential susceptibility theories. A total of 501 participants were selected through simple random sampling. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, including simple linear regression correlation analysis and multivariate analysis of variance.ResultsFear of COVID-19 showed a significant positive correlation with academic adjustment (r = 0.17, p < 0.001). Additionally, fear of COVID-19 was positively correlated with dimensions of academic adjustments, specifically academic achievement (r = 0.19, p < 0.001) and academic motivation (r = 0.20, p < 0.001).DiscussionThe study concluded that there was a significant positive correlation between fear of COVID-19 and academic adjustment. Therefore, it is crucial to implement interventions aimed at continuously enhancing students' academic adjustment as a seamless process
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