Humanities, citations and currency : hierarchies of value and enabled recolonisation

Abstract

Abstract:A comparative analysis examines the relevance of journal measurement indices for the Humanities and the Sciences. It explains how different measurements work, what they measure and their impact on the integrity of research, paradigm change and citation levels. The increasing use by university auditors of impact factors as performance management and research output indicators is critically examined with regard to implications for the humanities. The effect of this neoliberal approach on African-based academic developments is examined, as are the intellectually re-colonising effects of such systems