What does “medieval taxation” mean, and what does attention to colonialism create?

Medieval taxation simply means:

systems of taxation used by states, rulers or authorities during the medieval period.

For example:

• taxes imposed on peasants;
• land taxes;
• customs duties;
• religiously connected taxes;
• taxation of trade.

Suppose a journal publishes:

200 articles about colonialism

and:

5 about medieval taxation.

Then colonialism receives much greater scholarly attention.

What impression can this create?

A young researcher may infer:

“Colonialism is a highly important research field.”

That may be reasonable.

But they may also come to believe:

“Medieval taxation is relatively unimportant.”

That second inference may not be justified.

The unequal attention itself can therefore influence researchers' perception of what is academically important or promising.