Knowledge and practices of open science among scholars and researchers in Tanzania

Abstract

The Open Science (OS) movement has been spreading rapidly among researchers with positive outcomes on accessibility of scientific knowledge. However, there is no clear evidence on the level of awareness and types of OS practices among scholars and researchers in Tanzania, potentially missing an opportunity to reap the rewards of the movement to scholarly pursuits. This study investigated the level of awareness of OS and practices among Tanzanian scholars and researchers. Findings of a digital survey conducted for three months and recruited 144 respondents, show a high level of awareness of the term OS for 84% of respondents, most of them having encountered it from peers or online sources including social media. About 69% of respondents were male while about 44% of respondents were early career professionals. Open access (OA) publishing was the most common OS activity practised by respondents, highlighting both the need to create awareness on other practices and an entry point for knowledge expansion. However, respondents highlighted the barriers to spreading of the OS movement in the country including lack of awareness, knowledge and skills, the lack of institutional support and concerns over data security and ownership. Findings of this study establish OA as the most common and important OS practice among Tanzanian scholars. They show the importance of online resources and peers to peer learning and in spreading OS awareness. The study also reveals several areas of advocacy and including setting supportive institutional policies and building infrastructure to support OS practices. We recomment establisment of robust guidelines, institutional support and clear opportunities to incentivize individuals to adopt OS practices ao as to achieve the momentum required to scale the movement beyond OA.

Cross-border data sharing through the lens of research ethics committee members in sub-Saharan Africa

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“…The African Open Science Platform serves as a digital revolution that can accelerate big data research in SSA and foster open science, yet the increased adoption of open data policies requiring the sharing of de-identified individual-level health research data makes data governance even more important [ 48 – 52 ]. Rather than making data openly available without restrictions, a couple of interviewees advocated for a DAC to review and manage data access requests given the committee’s expected technical expertise and knowledge of data governance to better address challenges.…”

Gaps between Open Science activities and actual recognition systems: Insights from an international survey

“…In summarising our findings, the vast majority of respondents are familiar with the concept of OS in general terms, predominantly engaging in making their scientific publications open access. This supports the findings of previous survey studies, which concluded that open access is the most commonly adopted OS activity by researchers [19,20,21]. However, engagement with other OS activities, such as data sharing and FAIRification and preregistration of study designs, varies and needs greater support in policies, institutional frameworks and awareness-raising efforts (e.g., awareness of FAIR principles versus being involved in some steps of FAIRification).…”

Open Science and Policy Interface: The Tanzania Perspective

“…A study on Knowledge and practices of open science among scholars and researchers in Tanzania by David et al, (2022) Ensure an effective R&D system and its impact on socio-economic activities.…”