David Mills is Associate Professor (Pedagogy and the Social Sciences) at the Department of Education at Oxford. He is Deputy Director of the Oxford Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE) and a Co-Investigator on CGHE’s Research Programme on Supranational Higher Education. He is also Governing Body Fellow at Kellogg College.
Trained in Anthropology, David uses ethnographic methods to study higher education, and his current research interests include the impact of the global research economy on institutional research and publishing cultures in African universities. This work seeks to question the concept of ‘predatory publishing’, and the way the term occludes the reputational inequalities of global knowledge ecosystems.
He is also interested in contrasting conceptions of ‘capacity building’, the changing place of scholarly journals within knowledge cultures and academic mobility.
Research
Book chapters
Mills, D., & Inouye, K. (2024). Research integrity in publishing: decolonial perspectives. In Handbook of Meta-Research (pp. 251-262). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781839105722.00028
Mills, D. (2020). Related Disciplines. In The Handbook of Sociocultural Anthropology (pp. 570-587). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003086987-39
Mills, D. (2017). Anthropology. In Modernism and the Social Sciences: Anglo-American Exchanges, c.1918-1980 (pp. 231-256). https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316795514.010
Mills, D. (2012). Anthropology and education. In HANDBOOK OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN EDUCATION (pp. 33-47).
Mills, D. (2007). A major disaster to anthropology?: Oxford and alfred reginald radcliffe-brown. In A History of Oxford Anthropology (pp. 70-79).
Mills, D. (2005). Made in Manchester? Methods and Myths in Disciplinary History. Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.3167/015597705780275011
Mills, D. (2003). ’Like a horse in blinkers’?: A political history of anthropology’s research ethics. In The Ethics of Anthropology: Debates and Dilemmas (pp. 37-54). https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203633670
Journal articles
Mills, D., & Robinson, N. (2022). Democratising Monograph Publishing or Preying on Researchers? Scholarly Recognition and Global ’Credibility Economies’. SCIENCE AS CULTURE, 31(2), 187-211. https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2021.2005562
Mills, D., & Branford, A. (2022). Getting by in a bibliometric economy: scholarly publishing and academic credibility in the Nigerian academy. AFRICA, 92(5), 839-859. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972022000481
Mills, D., Branford, A., Inouye, K., Robinson, N., & Kingori, P. (2021). “Fake” journals and the fragility of authenticity: citation indexes, “predatory” publishing, and the African research ecosystem. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 33(3), 276-296. https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2020.1864304
Mills, D., & Bell, K. (2021). National propensities? (May, 10.1007/s11192-021-04014-w, 2021). SCIENTOMETRICS. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-021-04070-2
Mills, D., & Bell, K. (2021). National propensities?. Scientometrics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-021-04014-w
Inouye, K., & Mills, D. (2021). Fear of the academic fake? Journal editorials and the amplification of the ’predatory publishing’ discourse. Learned Publishing, 34(3), 396-406. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1377
Han, S., & Mills, D. (2021). ’FROM POINT TO SURFACE’: THE ROLE OF POLICY EXPERIMENTATION IN CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION REFORMS. BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES, 69(2), 217-236. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2020.1795079
Mills, D., & Inouye, K. (2020). Problematizing ‘predatory publishing’: A systematic review of factors shaping publishing motives, decisions, and experiences. Learned Publishing, 34(2), 89-104. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1325
Mills, D. (2019). The epistemic politics of ‘academography’: navigating competing representations of Africa’s university futures. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 18(5), 541-552. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2020.1814701
Mills, D., & James, D. (2019). Reconceptualising organisational collaborations in social science doctoral education. Higher Education, 79(5), 791-809. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00438-9
Mills, D., & Bennett, D. (2016). In defence of standards or an act of ‘cultural barbarism’? Anthropology and histories of A-level reform. Teaching Anthropology. https://doi.org/10.22582/ta.v6i0.437
Mills, D. (2015). Book Review: Kathryn M. Anderson-Levitt (ed.), Anthropologies of Education: A Global Guide to Ethnographic Studies of Learning and Schooling. Qualitative Research, 15(4), 543-544. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794114560555
Oancea, A., & Mills, D. (2015). The New Ecosystem for Educational Research: Findings from the BERA Observatory. Research Intelligence, 127, 27-28.
Vokes, R., & Mills, D. (2015). ’Time for School’? School fees, savings clubs and social reciprocity in Uganda. JOURNAL OF EASTERN AFRICAN STUDIES, 9(2), 326-342. https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2015.1042627
Mills, D. (2015). English in Nordic Universities: Ideologies and practices. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS, 25(2), 265-268. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12115
Mills, D. (2014). Jebens, Holger & Karl‐Heinz Kohl (eds). The end of anthropology? 254 pp., bibliogrs. Wantage: Sean Kingston Publishing, 2011. £55.00 (cloth). Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 20(1), 188-189. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12087_28
Lunt, I., McAlpine, L., & Mills, D. (2014). Lively bureaucracy? The ESRC’s Doctoral Training Centres and UK universities. OXFORD REVIEW OF EDUCATION, 40(2), 151-169. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2013.862167
Mills, D., & Rath, J. (2012). Academia as Workplace. Higher Education Quarterly, 66(2), 129-134. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2012.00517.x
Mills, D. (2012). Identities and Social Change in Britain Since 1940: The Politics of Method. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, 12(5), 603-604. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794112442310
Mills, D., & Ratcliffe, R. (2012). After method? Ethnography in the knowledge economy. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, 12(2), 147-164. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794111420902
Mills, D. (2012). Glimpses into my own black box: an exercise in self-deconstruction. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 18(1), 198-199. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2011.01740_2.x
Mills, D. (2011). Anthropological intelligence: the deployment and neglect of American anthropology in the Second World War. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 17(1), 215-217. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2010.01675_38.x
Mills, D. (2011). Best of both worlds: the story of Elsdon Best and Tutakangahau. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 17(4), 906-907. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2011.01725_25.x
Mills, D., & Berg, M. (2010). Gender, disembodiment and vocation: Exploring the unmentionables of British academic life. Critique of Anthropology, 30(4), 331-353. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308275x10372470
Mills, D. (2010). Critical journeys: the making of anthropologists. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 16(4), 933-934. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2010.01661_27.x
Mills, D. (2010). A new history of anthropology. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 16(1), 198-199. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2009.01604_31.x
Hawkins, P., & Mills, D. (2010). Home or Away? Widening Participation and the Challenge for Anthropology. Anthropology in Action, 17(2). https://doi.org/10.3167/aia.2010.170202
Mills, D. (2009). Making sense of doctoral training reforms in the social sciences: Educational development by other means?. International Journal for Researcher Development, 1(1), 71-83. https://doi.org/10.1108/1759751x201100005
Mills, D. (2008). Compare, contrast, converge? A biography of the Demographic Review of the Social Sciences (2006). Twenty-First Century Society, 3(3), 263-278. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450140802332091
Lebeau, Y., & Mills, D. (2008). From ’crisis’ to ’transformation’? Shifting orthodoxies of African higher education policy and research. Learning and Teaching, 1(1), 58-88. https://doi.org/10.3167/175522708783113523
Mills, D. (2008). Engaging anthropology: The case for a public presence. CRITIQUE OF ANTHROPOLOGY, 28(1), 105-106. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308275X07086560
Mills, D. (2006). Life on the hill: Students and the social history of Makerere. AFRICA, 76(2), 247-266. https://doi.org/10.3366/afr.2006.76.2.247
Mills, D., & Huber, M. (2005). Anthropology and the educational ’trading zone’: Disciplinarity, pedagogy and professionalism. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 4(1), 9-32. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474022205048756
Mills, D. (2004). Anthropology and the ‘amateurs’: A personal view. Anthropology Today, 20(6), 25-25. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0268-540x.2004.00317.x
Mills, D. (2004). The ’new’ African higher education?. AFRICAN AFFAIRS, 103(413), 667-675. https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adh072
Mills, D. (2003). Professionalizing or popularizing Anthropology? A Brief history of anthropology’s scholarly associations in the UK. Anthropology Today, 19(5), 8-13. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.00216
Mills, D. (2003). Quantifying the discipline: Some anthropology statistics from the UK. Anthropology Today, 19(3), 19-22. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.00193
Mills, D. (2003). Review Article: Anthropology 101. Social Anthropology, 11(3), 363-372. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8676.2003.tb00083.x
Mills, D. (2003). Relativism and cultural studies. Think, 1(3), 79-82. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1477175600000488
Mills, D., & Ssewakiryanga, R. (2002). ’That Beijing thing’: Challenging transnational feminisms in Kampala. Gender, Place and Culture, 9(4), 385-398. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369022000024641
Mills, D. (2002). Methodology’s Mrs Beeton. Qualitative Research, 2(3), 411-416. https://doi.org/10.1177/146879410200200307
Mills, D. (2002). History and theory in anthropology. SOCIOLOGY-THE JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, 36(2), 445-446. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038502036002013
Mills, D. (2002). Women and politics in Uganda. AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, 29(2), 437-438. https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.2002.29.2.437
Kuper, A., Gibb, R., & Mills, D. (2001). An interview with Adam Kuper. Social Anthropology, 9(02). https://doi.org/10.1017/s0964028201000143
Gibb, R., & Mills, D. (2001). An interview with Adam Kuper. Social Anthropology, 9(2), 207-216. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8676.2001.tb00146.x
Mills, D., & Gibb, R. (2001). "Centre" and periphery - An interview with Paul Willis. CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 16(3), 388-414. https://doi.org/10.1525/can.2001.16.3.388
Mills, D. (2000). Introduction to action research: Social research for social change. AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, 102(3), 659-660. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.2000.102.3.659
Asubiaro, T., Onaolapo, S., & Mills, D. (n.d.). Regional disparities in Web of Science and Scopus journal coverage. Scientometrics, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-024-04948-x
Reports
Oancea, A., & Mills, D. (2014). Educational Research. Final report of the BERA Observatory 2014. British Educational Research Association.
