"Evidence about the operation of the scholarly community"

This means evidence showing how scholars actually select, circulate, accept, reject, or ignore knowledge.

For example, suppose you claim:

Scholars ignored interpretation X because it challenged a dominant Western interpretation.

Evidence might include:

• reviews rejecting X for ideological reasons;
• correspondence showing scholars deliberately excluding X;
• editorial policies;
• publication records;
• patterns showing relevant evidence was systematically ignored;
• statements by scholars explaining why X was excluded.

That would allow you to investigate whether the neglect resulted from intellectual bias rather than simply lack of quality.