Are we not Reinventing the Wheel?: Reviewing Literature in Social Science Scholarship and the Imperatives of Aligning with Global Best Practices

Abstract

This paper examines the contexts of literature reviewing among scholars in Africa, particularly social scientists. It argues quite forcefully that reviews are becoming increasingly characterized by avoidable gaps and therefore represent some form of enigma, which remain largely unrecognized. The implications are not only debilitating but also alienating from the global intellectual milieu. The paper chronicles the issues and suggests the path to achieving standard reviews in contemporary academic scenery, rather than reinventing the wheel and, by implication, demeaning the essence of knowledge production and propagation.