Adonis and Abbey Celebrates 18th Anniversary

In commemoration of its 18th anniversary, Adonis & Abbey Publishers, a London and Abuja-based publisher of professional books and peer-reviewed academic journals, in conjunction with The News Chronicle, an online Newspaper, on Thursday, 18th March 2021, held a webinar on Scholarship, Knowledge Production, and Dissemination in Africa’s Higher Education System.

The event, which was opened with a welcome address by the company’s Business Development Manager, Joan McDappa, was moderated by Professor PhocenahNyatanga, Lecturer, Dept. of Business and Accounting, University of Kwazulu, and editor, African Journal of Business and Economic Research (AJBER).

Professor JideoforAdibe, Publisher Adonis & Abbey Publishers Limited and Founding editor, African Renaissance, who expatiated on “Adonis and Abbey publishers – the journey so far,” stated that the company, which started in the UK on March 18, 2003, has published over 160 titles; and distributed them globally, including Europe, North America, and South Africa.

In his words, Jideofor said today, with 14 journals (4 of which are indexed by the highly regarded SCOPUS and ranked by SCImago Journal Ranking and all 14 accredited by IBSS), Adonis and Abbey Publishers Ltd is probably among the top three academic journal publishers in Africa.

While noting that the journey so far has been great, the Publisher quipped that the challenges confronting the company are enormous.

Guest speaker, Prof Kgothatso B Shai, Head, Dept. of Cultural & Political Studies, University of Limpopo, RSA and author of Scholarship and Politics in South Africa’s Higher Education System, who talked on “Scholarship and Politics in Africa’s higher education system,” faulted the low contribution of Africa to world scientific knowledge.

He averred that several scholars have attempted unraveling the reasons behind the abysmal figures and poor funding was discovered as the major factor causing the setback. “Our States, individually and collectively, they do not do enough in terms of investment in research and innovations.”

Prof Shai emphasized that the low contribution of Africa to knowledge production and dissemination in the form of publication frankly explains why some of the socio-economic challenges facing the African continent including poverty, unemployment, and inequality continue to travel across generations.

The Prof also stated that other scholars believe that the poor contribution of Africa to scientific knowledge can be attributed to the extremes of scientific publications.

Other issues raised by the lecturer are politicization of academic administration, lack of serious and passionate scholars in academic leadership as well as shortage of academic role models.

Another speaker, Professor Aloysius Michael Okolie President, Nigerian Political Science Association and Dean, Education System, who shared insight on “Publish or Perish? Perils of Knowledge Production and Dissemination in Nigeria’s Higher,” stated that Knowledge Production and Dissemination must be done assiduously with integrity to advance the general human capacity of man so that man will be an engine for change and capacity reinvention.

Delineating on his subject matter, Okolie stated publications have been made as the benchmarks for the promotion of people in academics; hence, people are no longer interested in quality but quantity.

He emphasized that due to ‘publish or perish’ benchmark, many publications being produced no longer hold waters and are full of frauds, emphasizing that such publications will not contribute meaningfully to knowledge data base.

On his part, DrThabaKgomotlokoa Senior Lecturer, Business Management, University of Limpopo, RSA and editor, Journal of African Education, who was represented by Mr. CephasMakwara, expounded on “Publish or perish? Perils of knowledge production and dissemination in Africa’s higher education system education system”.

In his reverberating presentation, Thaba examined knowledge production and dissemination in Africa, enumerating various factors confronting the process such as funding, compromising integrity of research, failure to address challenges, etc.

He also stated that ‘publish or perish’ has led to the production of various works that do not contribute meaningfully to knowledge.

Some of the participants, in their goodwill messages, congratulated Adonis and Abbey for the milestone, and commended the Publisher, Prof Jideofor for championing the organization.

Among others, some of the dignitaries who gave goodwill messages are; Emeritus Professor John Kuada Founding Editor, African Journal of Business and Economic Research, Professor NnamdiMadichie, former editor, African Journal of Business and Economic Research, Professor Victor Ojakorotu, editor, African Renaissance, ChisangaPuta-Chekwe, author, Cobra in the Boat: Michael Sata’s Zambia (2017) and Getting Zambia to Work.

Others are Professor Kabiru I Dandago, author, Time management in the life of a scholar (2015) and Advanced Accountancy: Theory and Practice (ed., 2009), David Guisselquist, author Stopping Bloodborne HIV: Investigating Unexplained Infections (2020) and Points to Consider: Responses to HIV/AIDS in Africa,Asia, and the Caribbean (2008).

In her closing remarks, Timilaemi Deinanaghan, Business Development Executive, Adonis & Abbey Publishers, thanked the participants for attending the historic meeting.

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