Reasons to Write in the Sudanese Academia: a Hard Sciences Perspective

Abstract

Writing is a tool of constructing and disseminating knowledge and thus, it plays a central role in the academic and professional development of academics. Given this general understanding of the function of writing in the academia, this study intends to explore the specific reasons underpinning the writing attempts made by Sudanese researchers affiliated with academic fields generally labelled as hard sciences. An interview was used to collect qualitative data from ten faculty members who were in the service of Alazhari University located in Khartoum; the participants were four professors, four assistant professors, and a lecturer in the fields of biomedical sciences, applied statistics, social forestry, petroleum and civil engineering. The interview centred on different motives to write, the rewards they gained from writing and the writing challenges. The results showed that the majority of the interviewees had reported that they would write to share knowledge. While the professors reported recognition as another important reason, the junior faculty reported career development as an important motive for writing. All of the interviewees reported the huge challenges they had to deal with in order to conduct a research, writing up and publishing their findings.