In the Eastern Cape
province of South Africa, where I live, I usually dodge cows on the way to
work. Cows are also in the suburbs, grazing on street corners, meandering
across soccer fields.
Last week I met a retiree
who said she had moved to a job in the university administration because her
"udders had dried up". Puzzled by this statement but not taken aback
by the cow metaphor, I asked what she meant and she said, "As an academic,
I felt like I was strapped to a milking machine and [gesturing with her hands]
that I was being sucked dry. I didn't want that anymore, so I joined
management." Amused by this, another academic piped up, "Now that
you're retired, one could say that you've been put out to pasture!"
South Africa is an
emerging economy, even so, the government invested 22.2bn rand (£1.23bn) –
0.76% of the GDP – in research and development (R&D) in 2011-12. The
percentage to be spent on R&D will increase to 1.5% of the GDP in 2019.
This means that more research funding will be released for use in higher
education and for the production of research papers, patents and books.
Currently, South African
academics do not produce the volume of research papers that their counterparts
in the global north do but this situation will change, as the investment in
research and development increases.
Today, South Africa has
25 public universities. There are historically "white" and
"black" universities as well as merged universities, which combine
universities and vocational entities.
During apartheid
"black" universities received less funding than "white"
universities, however all South African universities derive an income from
government subsidies. These are generated via articles published in (mostly)
European and North American journals, which are indexed on internationally
rated publications' lists. Panels of experts in the government assess the
articles submitted for accreditation.
In this system, articles
attract one point (a subsidy of about 170,000 rand). Book chapters attract a
third of this subsidy amount, while opinions, blogs, book reviews, forum
articles do not generate any income. At some universities, part of the subsidy
can be claimed by the academic, while at other universities the entire amount
goes into the university coffer.
The university
"manages" this research income by offering some funding to the
academic to attend an annual national and/or international conference. Some
funding is also offered for national research. However, the amount paid to each
academic is usually the same, regardless of writing output. A poor and rapidly
declining exchange rate also means that South African academics pay more for
visas, conference registration fees, accommodation and travel.
Once published, many
academics will also pay to gain access to their own publication. The publishing
houses pay nothing at all. I was once asked to fork out $35 US for my own
research article. The editor said that I was being offered a special and
limited discount as the author. I did not bother to reply. Why should an author
pay to get a copy of her own work?
For the same reason some
colleagues avoid all journals that request page fees. Worse, some South African
universities pay thrice for the privilege of publication – once for the cost of
research, a second time for the page fees and a third time for institutional
access to the journal.
Presently, many South
African students struggle to pay their university fees. Government's national
student funding scheme (NSFAS) contributed 8.5bn rand to students in 2013. Even
so, many drop-out because they cannot sustain themselves on the student grant.
Income generated by publications could support more students. South Africa
deserves more for its investment in research and in publishing houses.
As an anthropologist, my
time is spent on fieldwork, teaching and postgraduate supervision. The work
requires difficult research and high level thinking. Recently, in the Academic
Freedom Committee, my colleagues and I produced a document on academic values
in which we discuss the necessity for humility, honesty, service and dedication
in scholarship.
Many South African
universities honour such values. Therefore, it may be time for them to pursue
an international agreement that secures the publications' income of
universities and academics. If they don't, publishing houses will continue to
tell us stories about printing, distribution, marketing and administration
costs or to put it more academically, they will continue to justify not
remunerating universities and ultimately academics.
