Demand-Side Obstacles to Publishing Economics Research: A View from the South

Abstract

We discuss obstacles that researchers located in developing countries face to publish in economics journals. We group obstacles into two categories. ‘Supply-side’ obstacles include lack of funding, networking and certain elements of research capacity. ‘Demand-side’ obstacles arise from the practices of many journals’ editors. It is these less well-recognized obstacles that are the focus of this commentary. This set of practices combines to make it less likely that southern authors will get their work published. Significantly, the practices include a preference for manuscripts with highly reliable results (which usually require randomized controlled trials) over creative papers that confront questions that can only be imperfectly answered with the best methodologies available. This ranking discourages southern researchers from participating in journals and is a constraint for cumulative scientific progress.