North and South: Naming practices and the hidden dimension of global disparities in knowledge production

Andrés F. Castro Torres and Diego Alburez-Gutierrez
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Andrés F. Castro Torres: a Laboratory of Fertility and Well-Being, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, 18057 Rostock, Germany;
Diego Alburez-Gutierrez: b Laboratory of Digital and Computational Demography, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, 18057 Rostock, Germany

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022, vol. 119, issue 10, e2119373119

Abstract: Contemporary social sciences aim to be diverse and inclusive, but traces of the historical dominance of Western European and North American academic institutions persist in scientific practices. One such practice is the phrasing of article titles. Our analysis shows that articles studying the global North are systematically less likely to mention the name of the country they study in their title compared to articles on the global South. This constitutes, potentially, an unwarranted claim on universality and may lead to lesser recognition of global South studies. Social and behavioral scientists must reflect on the phrasing of their article titles to avoid reproducing harmful relations of intellectual domination which limit inclusivity and constitute a barrier to the generalizability of scientific knowledge.

Keywords: knowledge production; global inequalities; Eurocentrism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nas:journl:v:119:y:2022:p:e2119373119

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