Patterns of Scholarly Collaboration among Academics in Nigerian Universities: Knowledge Sharing or Knowledge Hoarding?

Abstract

This study investigates the patterns of scholarly collaboration among academic staff in the four Nigerian universities, Bayero University, Kano; University of Maiduguri; University of Ibadan; and University of Porthacourt, using quantitative approach through survey questionnaire administered randomly to collect data from the population of academics in the four universities. The study found that Nigerian university academics collaborate in the pursuit of their scholarly activities in the areas of publishing/writing article, data collection, data analysis, and workshops/seminar presentations. The findings also revealed that phones, emails, web forums/blogs/wikis, instant messaging service, Voice over IP (VoIP), social networking sites and post mail were the means of communicating research and other scholarly endeavors to colleagues, both within and outside their universities. The study will serves as a springboard for strengthening and facilitating scholarly collaborations and knowledge sharing, thereby bridging the knowledge gaps that exist between the haves and have not knowledge in the Nigerian higher education sub-sector. The contribution of the study lies in the fact that the findings add to the understanding of knowledge sharing activities available in the Nigerian universities, and no such study exists in the literature.

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