Not So Much Has Been Done”: An Archaic Scholarly Orientation

A cliché is a phrase, expression, or idea that has lost its impact and originality due to excessive use. The expression “not so much has been done” as commonly used in scholarly publications has not only lost its impact due to excessive use, but also at the level of its veracity. Before the 21st century, the world dealt with limited information on the one hand and restriction/limitation of access on the other hand. Then, a teacher or a lecturer was more or less an omniscient narrator and the embodiment of knowledge. It was the era academics would tell their mentees to go review doctoral theses at different universities or visit a faraway library for a particular book. At that time, we could say not so much had been done as regards intellectual output or more safely say not so much was known about the so much that had been done. This was the period when the expression “not so much has been done” became a generic part of many abstracts. It was a time supervisors/assessors would rely on the Yoruba proverb which says "ai rin jina lai ri abuke okere (It is because one did not travel far enough that one did not see a hunchbacked squirrel) anytime they wanted their supervisees/candidates to get existing works on a research area. Literature review was a very difficult aspect of research at this time given the dearth of scholarly materials.

In the 21st century, the “hunchbacked squirrel” is now readily available on the internet and no one has to travel far to access it. The hidden place for scholarly shallowness has now been illuminated by the enormity of resources in the virtual space. The world has not only done so much at the level of knowledge production, it has also done much more at the level of visibility with search engines. Pieces of information are not only accessible but also available for downloads. Now, rather than saying “not so much has been done”, it is better, safer and wiser to admit that there is almost nothing entirely new that is left to be done except for modifications and improvements to all that have been done.

The aim of a scholarly work is to fill a gap. A gap in academic writing (often called a research gap) refers to a missing, underexplored, or insufficiently addressed area in existing knowledge, literature, or research on a topic. It is the space where something is not yet fully known, explained, or agreed upon—and where your work can contribute. I am proposing in this piece that it is more beneficial in this age to understand a gap as an acronym for “Giving Another Perspective”, rather than being thought of as saying or doing that which has never been heard of. If we think of gap as what is done to bring in a new dimension and/or clearer perspective in a field, then we will understand and admit that it is not an advantage when we think or say or lie that not so much has been done. Like the saying “the more the merrier”, the more available and accessible resources that there are in a particular field of study, the greater the chance to identify what is yet to be done or what can be done better. Budding and established scholars must understand now that the claim of scarcity or unavailability of resources for any academic exploration is now almost impossible and unbelievable.

Researchers must know and admit that the challenge is no longer what to read but the readiness to read. The problem is no longer whether the information exists, but whether we are willing to find it, use it and improve on it. I conclude by saying that indeed so much has been done but, matter-of-factly, much more can still be done to better our world.

(c) 2026 Ganiu Bamgbose writes from the Department of English, Lagos State University.