The field of psychology in Africa has evolved significantly, marked by both progress and persistent challenges. It is now well over a hundred and fifty years since the first celebrated geographical explorations of Africa took place. However, it was many years before there began quests of a different kind - the investigation of behaviour, personality, attitude and ability among Africa’s people.
When psychologists attend to Africa, they usually test whether theories and concepts developed in North America and Europe generalize to Africa. This approach underscores the importance of understanding the nuances of applying global psychological theories within the African context.
Early Questions and Relevance
Early inquiries in African psychology sought to identify common personality and intellectual characteristics among Africans. Questions ranged from the broad-based to the specific:
- Are there any common personality and intellectual characteristics among Africans?
- How does weaning affect African child development?
- How have Africans’ feelings developed about city life and industrial work?
Above all the book made a convincing case for psychology becoming a relevant and finely honed discipline in Black Africa, characterised by practical application to Black African society. Each chapter covers a defined area of modern psychology of the time and presents a comprehensive survey in a language no more technical that the subject warrants.
At the time is was felt this book would be invaluable to students of Africa secondary education whose course included a psychology component and to African students beginning a degree course in psychology.
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Challenges and Biases in Research
One significant issue is the under-representation of diverse populations in psychological research. The set of journals have been ranked according to their SJR and divided into four equal groups, four quartiles. The SJR is a size-independent prestige indicator that ranks journals by their 'average prestige per article'. It is based on the idea that 'all citations are not created equal'.
Key challenges include:
- The unfair playing field in publishing child development research, resulting in most of the world’s child population being under-represented.
- The need for psychological science to be more representative of the human population, moving toward a psychology of Homo sapiens.
- Addressing epistemic exclusion to achieve a truly global science and practice of early childhood development.
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Citation Analysis and Impact
Citation metrics provide insights into the influence and relevance of published research. Evolution of the number of published documents. This indicator counts the number of citations received by documents from a journal and divides them by the total number of documents published in that journal. The chart shows the evolution of the average number of times documents published in a journal in the past two, three and four years have been cited in the current year.
Metrics to consider:
- Cites / Doc: Measures the average number of citations received by documents from a journal, divided by the total number of documents published in that journal.
- Evolution of the number of total citation per document and external citation per document (i.e.
- International Collaboration accounts for the articles that have been produced by researchers from several countries.
- Not every article in a journal is considered primary research and therefore "citable", this chart shows the ratio of a journal's articles including substantial research (research articles, conference papers and reviews) in three year windows vs.
- Ratio of a journal's items, grouped in three years windows, that have been cited at least once vs.
- Evolution of the number of documents related to Sustainable Development Goals defined by United Nations.
Financial Aspects and Estimated APC
The financial worth of a journal can be estimated based on its visibility, prestige, and impact. It estimates the article processing charges (APCs) a journal might charge, based on its visibility, prestige, and impact as measured by the SJR. YearEst. It represents the potential financial worth of a journal. It is obtained by multiplying the journal's Estimated APC by the total number of citable documents published over the past five years. YearEst.
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These metrics provide insights into the potential financial worth and sustainability of academic journals in the field.
Need for Indigenous Psychologies
There is a growing call for the development and recognition of indigenous psychologies that are rooted in African cultures and contexts.
Cultural Identity: What’s it got to do with mental health?
Key considerations include:
- Understanding African cultural values and their influence on behavior.
- Developing culturally sensitive assessment scales for psychoeducational purposes.
- Promoting an African-centered perspective on psychological empowerment.
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