David Mills is an Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE).

His current research focuses on the political economy of the global science system, and its impact on institutional research and publishing cultures in African universities. His most recent book is ‘Who Counts: Ghanaian Academic Publishing and Global Science’, co-written with colleagues from the University of Ghana and Oxford, and available open access from African Minds:  https://www.africanminds.co.za/who-counts/

Trained in Anthropology, and with inter-disciplinary research interests, David uses ethnographic methods to study the inequalities created by global higher education. He is particularly interested in African university research cultures and the role of diamond Open Access scholarly journals within knowledge ecosystems.

He welcomes enquiries from potential doctoral students interested in studying African Higher Education, as well as research and publishing cultures.

Research

Books

  • Mills, D. (2008). Difficult folk?: A political history of social anthropology (pp. 1-221).

    • 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 (pp. 231-256). Cambridge University Press (CUP).
    https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316795514.010

  • Mills, D. (2012). Anthropology and Education. In Handbook of Qualitative Research in Education. Edward Elgar Publishing.
    https://doi.org/10.4337/9781849807296.00010http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781849807296.00010

  • 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

    • Journal articles

  • Mills, D., Mertkan, S., & Onurkan Aliusta, G. (2024). ’Special issue-ization’ as a growth and revenue strategy: Reproduction by the "big five" and the risks for research integrity. Accountability in Research, 1-19.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/08989621.2024.2374567

  • Asubiaro, T., Onaolapo, S., & Mills, D. (2024). Regional disparities in Web of Science and Scopus journal coverage. Scientometrics, 129(3), 1469-1491.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-024-04948-x

  • 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., & 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., 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/10.1080/13696815.2020.1864304https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a366eb0b-7c70-4c90-9564-79f686cfba6e

  • 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-whttps://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:5719b804-5666-49b2-8efd-d768d0d33c78

  • 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.1377https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:7a57f207-9ed2-4927-951c-09e4c28fcf7e

  • 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.1325https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f25e629a-225f-4630-947d-52defce45bd9

  • 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/10.1080/14767724.2020.1814701https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b2564b32-3525-45f2-a5ad-763439afb572

  • Mills, D., & James, D. (2019). Reconceptualising organisational collaborations in social science doctoral education. Higher Education, 79(5), 791-809.
    https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00438-9https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:bed089b1-66eb-40c7-add4-3281bc324d9e

  • 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.v6i0.437https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:7ccecf60-5c8a-4864-9aad-a0806a4622b8

  • 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

  • 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. (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

  • 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., & 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). 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. (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

  • 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. (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

  • 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). Book Review: Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Engaging Anthropology: The Case for a Public Presence. Oxford: Berg, 2005. 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’. 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.xhttp://dx.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). Relativism and cultural studies. Think, 1(3), 79-82.
    https://doi.org/10.1017/s1477175600000488

  • MILLS, D. (2003). Review Article. Social Anthropology, 11(3), 363-372.
    https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8676.2003.tb00083.x

  • 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/s0964028201000143http://dx.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

  • Mills, D. (n.d.). One index, two publishers and the global research economy. Oxford Review of Education, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1-16.
    https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2024.2348448

    • Reports

  • Oancea, A., & Mills, D. (2014). Educational Research. Final report of the BERA Observatory 2014. British Educational Research Association.

    • Funded Research Projects