AfricArXiv – the pan-African Open Scholarly Repository (Overview and Roadmap)

Ahinon, Justin Sègbédji; Arafat, Hisham; Umar, Ahmad; Achampong, Joyce; Aldirdiri, Osman; Ayodele, Obasegun Tekena; Bezuidenhout, Louise; Okelo, Luke; Cary, M.; Fath, Nada; Ksibi, Nabil Aziz; Zimmer, Niklas; Nasr, Fayza A.; Nguemeni, Carine; Maina, Mahmoud Bukar; Mensah, Priscilla; Obanda, Johanssen; Owango, Joy; Ogunlaja, Ahmed; Simpson, Gregory W.; Havemann, Jo

doi:10.31730/osf.io/56p3e

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Preprints are increasingly being adopted, particularly by researchers in life sciences (Kirkham et al, 2020 ). In Africa, researchers have developed the AfricArXiv preprint server, which seeks to promote and increase the visibility of African research (Ahinon et al, 2020 ). We sought to understand the level of adoption of pre-prints among Kenyan researchers and whether African researchers have driven the practice.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Open Science in Kenya: Where Are We?

Mwangi

Mainye²,

Ouso

et al. 2021

Front. Res. Metr. Anal.

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According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Open Science is the movement to make scientific research and data accessible to all. It has great potential for advancing science. At its core, it includes (but is not limited to) open access, open data, and open research. Some of the associated advantages are promoting collaboration, sharing and reproducibility in research, and preventing the reinvention of the wheel, thus saving resources. As research becomes more globalized and its output grows exponentially, especially in data, the need for open scientific research practices is more evident — the future of modern science. This has resulted in a concerted global interest in open science uptake. Even so, barriers still exist. The formal training curriculum in most, if not all, universities in Kenya does not equip students with the knowledge and tools to subsequently practice open science in their research. Therefore, to work openly and collaboratively, there is a need for awareness and training in the use of open science tools. These have been neglected, especially in most developing countries, and remain barriers to the cause. Moreover, there is scanty research on the state of affairs regarding the practice and/or adoption of open science. Thus, we developed, through the OpenScienceKE framework, a model to narrow the gap. A sensitize-train-hack-collaborate model was applied in Nairobi, the economic and administrative capital of Kenya. Using the model, we sensitized through seminars, trained on the use of tools through workshops, applied the skills learned in training through hackathons to collaboratively answer the question on the state of open science in Kenya. While the former parts of the model had 20–50 participants, the latter part mainly involved participants with a bioinformatics background, leveraging their advanced computational skills. This model resulted in an open resource that researchers can use to publish as open access cost-effectively. Moreover, we observed a growing interest in open science practices in Kenya through literature search and data mining and that lack of awareness and skills may still hinder the adoption and practice of open science. Furthermore, at the time of the analyses, we surprisingly found that out of the 20,069 papers downloaded from BioRXiv, only 18 had Kenyan authors, a majority of which are international (16) collaborations. This may suggest poor uptake of the use of preprints among Kenyan researchers. The findings in this study highlight the state of open science in Kenya and challenges facing its adoption and practice while bringing forth possible areas for primary consideration in the campaign toward open science. It also proposes a model (sensitize-train-hack-collaborate model) that may be adopted by researchers, funders and other proponents of open science to address some of the challenges faced in promoting its adoption in Kenya.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Open Science in Kenya: Where Are We?

Mwangi

Mainye²,

Ouso

et al. 2021

Front. Res. Metr. Anal.

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Assessing the Use of Scholarly Communication Platforms in Zambia

Subramani,

Yadav

et al. 2024

Libri

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This study examines the use of scholarly communication platforms in Zambia, exploring the perceptions, usage patterns and factors influencing the adoption and utilisation of these platforms among Zambian researchers and academics. Employing a cross-sectional survey design, the study gathered data from a sample of faculty members and researchers at selected universities in Zambia. The survey instrument consisted of three sections, collecting information on demographic background, scholarly communication practices in Zambia and the scholarly communication platforms used by the academic community. The findings reveal insights into the perceptions of scholarly communication services, the challenges faced by Zambian researchers in accessing and utilising scholarly resources and potential strategies to enhance scholarly communication in the country. Additionally, the study identifies the scholarly communication platforms most widely used by the Zambian academic community and the factors influencing their adoption and usage. This research contributes to the limited literature on scholarly communication in Zambia, providing valuable insights for stakeholders involved in promoting and enhancing scholarly communication practices within the country.

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AfricArXiv – the pan-African Open Scholarly Repository (Overview and Roadmap)

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Open Science in Kenya: Where Are We?

Open Science in Kenya: Where Are We?

Assessing the Use of Scholarly Communication Platforms in Zambia

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