How do patterns in scientific authorship relate to the lived experiences and struggles of forest governance researchers in Africa? A new article by the In-Forest team published in Quantitative Science Studies explores this question by adjoining bibliometric and interview analysis, drawing on and applying the Bourdieusian concept of epistemic choices and struggles. The findings point to persistent geographical and gender inequalities, shaped by epistemic choices and struggles linked to the accumulation of social and scientific capital. 

The article draws on bibliometric data on articles published between 2005-2020 and 22 qualitative interviews, and integrates their analysis in a mixed-methods design. Drawing on Bourdieusian theory, we show how patterns in authorship relate to choices and struggles of forest governance scholars in Africa. The findings support previous studies on the patterns and causes of gender- and geography-related inequalities, highlighting the specific conditions of publishing in African contexts.  

The interview data reflected how scholars are pushed to publish articles in mainstream English-language journals to accumulate a form of capital that ‘counts’ in academic assessment – even though they struggle to access such journals. Despite this pressure, we also observe that scholars make non-conforming choices, at the expense of capital accumulation. This includes publishing in local journals to ‘give back’ to societies and the stakeholders they have been engaging with.  

We argue that this departure from Bourdieusian theory occurs because forest governance researchers navigate not only the scientific field, but multiple spaces — local and global, science and policy - which differ in terms of ‘what matters’. The study highlights the potential of mixed-methods-approaches for a better understanding of macro-micro-linkages in science, and for bridging the gap between quantitative and qualitative science studies. 

Full reference: Sunagawa, S., Boshoff, N., Ngwenya, S., Tetley, C., Uisso, A. J., & Koch, S. (2026). Epistemic choices, struggles and inequalities in scientific publishing: A mixed-methods study focusing on African forest governance researchers. Quantitative Science Studies, 1–58. https://doi.org/10.1162/QSS.a.484