PART 2 ACADEMIC OVERVIEW 1. INTRODUCTION Interest in mis- and disinformation has grown considerably around the world in recent years, and sub-Saharan Africa is no exception. This report presents a review of the literature on misand disinformation in the context of sub-Saharan Africa. The review included ninety-two articles written in English and ten articles in French. The research that is the subject of this review emerges in a context marked by two important dynamics: the development of ever more accessible digital technologies and the Covid-19 pandemic. The review is presented in five main parts: an introduction and background overview, the research approaches undertaken, perspectives on information disorder in sub-Saharan Africa, a summary of the ways to counter mis- and disinformation, and the research gaps identified. 1.1 GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE Our sample shows that the majority of studies on information disorder include multiple locations (twenty-five) in sub-Saharan Africa; that is, individual studies include countries in multiple regions within sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe tend to be particularly popular in studies featuring countries from multiple regions. The region most studied is West Africa, with twenty-eight out of the 102 articles focusing on countries in West Africa, particularly Nigeria, followed by Ghana. The sample included eleven articles that focus on countries in southern Africa, although these were split between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Eleven studies classified as “global I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH studies” include at least one country in sub-Saharan Africa; this is notable, as forty-six of the 102 articles were written by authors in the Global North or by authors in the Global North in collaboration with authors in the Global South. Studies by authors with African affiliations are, however, more common, with fifty-four out of 102 studies conducted by authors originating from African institutions. The paucity of academic articles published in French that explore information disorder issues in francophone Africa is mainly due to the hegemony of the English language in the field of international journals. Indeed, French-speaking researchers are increasingly publishing or aiming to publish in international journals using English. Another factor is the low publication rate in francophone Africa, particularly in the emerging field of information disorder. Most of the French-language publications focus on the European context (e.g. France, Belgium, Switzerland). In addition, some of the research on francophone Africa published in French has been produced by researchers based in institutions outside the continent. 1.2 FIELDS OF STUDY For the purposes of this study, 102 academic articles that explored themes related to information disorder were analyzed. The articles present a total of nine distinct fields of study: anthropology and human behavior (eleven articles); computer science (five); health science (sixteen); information science (ten); media, communication, and journalism (forty); legal and policy studies (three); peace and conflict (five); political communications and elections (eleven); and religion (one). The sample collected shows that Sub -Saharan Africa – 1 67