Africa is set to achieve a groundbreaking intellectual milestone as Professor Emeritus Peter Okebukola, one of the continent’s most respected higher education reformers, unveils the African Scholarly Referencing Style (ASRS)—the first citation and referencing framework conceived, developed and fully owned by Africa.
For decades, global scholarship has relied exclusively on Western-origin referencing systems. Despite Africa’s centuries-old intellectual heritage and thousands of universities, none of the world’s 29 globally recognised referencing styles originates from the continent.
Instead, systems such as APA, MLA, Chicago, Vancouver, Harvard and IEEE all reflect Western academic traditions.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja at the weekend, Okebukola said ASRS finally breaks this long-standing pattern.
He noted that while Africa has produced volumes of scholarship across generations, global academic practice has failed to recognise the continent in citation frameworks.
“ASRS responds to a longstanding gap in global academic practice,” he said. “Although Africa has produced centuries of scholarship, none of the internationally recognised referencing styles originates from the continent. ASRS offers Africa an opportunity to assert its scholarly identity and intellectual sovereignty.”
For Okebukola, ASRS is not merely a technical tool—it is an ideological statement.
“It is a declaration of Africa’s intellectual independence,” he emphasised. “It shows that Africa cannot only generate knowledge but can also define the frameworks through which knowledge is organised, validated and transmitted. It strengthens the visibility of African scholarship and enhances the discoverability of African sources.”
Beyond the referencing style, Okebukola is pushing a wave of Africa-inspired scholarly innovations. He is currently testing new research designs and data analysis models tailored to African contexts, expected for release in early 2026. His earlier contributions—such as the Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach (CTCA), the CTCA Artificial Intelligence pedagogy (CTCAI) and the Model-and-Surpass Pedagogy (MSP)—have earned global recognition for their cultural and technological relevance.
Observers note that Okebukola’s credibility has galvanised rare continent-wide consensus behind ASRS. His distinguished career includes serving as Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, winning the UNESCO Kalinga Prize, chairing multiple university governing councils and leading the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi-Africa).
His proposal has now received sweeping endorsements across Africa and beyond. The Association of African Universities (AAU), headquartered in Accra, has expressed strong support and readiness to host the development and deployment of ASRS.
Describing the initiative as visionary, AAU Secretary-General, Professor Olusola Oyewole, said:
“The proposal by Professor Okebukola represents a groundbreaking contribution to Africa’s intellectual sovereignty. It responds to concerns around epistemic colonialism, the marginalisation of African epistemologies and the under-recognition of African scholarly traditions.”
Senior UNESCO officials, leaders of African academies and more than 500 top scholars from across and outside the continent have endorsed ASRS as timely, transformative and aligned with global efforts to diversify knowledge systems.
Supporters include prominent former and serving vice-chancellors and leading academics from UNILAG, OAU, ABU, UNIBEN, BUK, LASU, Unilorin, UniJos and UniPort. ASRS is built to align strongly with global academic standards while embedding an African scholarly worldview.
About 95 per cent of its structure mirrors existing global formats, ensuring ease of adoption. The remaining 5 per cent introduces African-centred innovations, including structured ways of citing oral knowledge, indigenous custodians of wisdom, folklore, proverbs, multilingual sources, grey literature, community authorship and works in African languages.
The system features ten specialised variants adapted from major global styles—including APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, AMA, Turabian, IEEE, ACS and Bluebook—each integrating subtle African perspectives while retaining globally recognisable patterns.
To ensure sustainability, ASRS will be rolled out through a ten-year continental implementation plan. It begins with a comprehensive style manual, training resources and citation software tools, followed by pilot deployment in selected African universities and journals.
Later phases will expand adoption to hundreds of institutions and integrate ASRS into thesis guidelines, editorial policies and university presses. The final stage seeks recognition by global indexing databases such as Scopus and Web of Science.
Okebukola says the goal is clear: “Africa must no longer be a passive consumer of global intellectual tools. With ASRS, we begin to define the architecture of our own knowledge.”
