Open Science in Africa: What policymakers should consider

Chiware, Elisha Rt; Skelly, Lara

doi:10.3389/frma.2022.950139

Cited by 4 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Marsden and Morgan-Short (2023) point out that these deals are closed primarily between institutions and publishers in wealthy regions of the world, thus contributing to the inequality of the system, and current APC rates are insurmountable for many scholars who are not covered by such an agreement. This is certainly true for many scholars who work in the global south (Chiware & Skelly, 2022;2023), although we must acknowledge that many publishers have solidarity schemes in place to allow global south scholars to publish open access for free. Unfortunately, such schemes are not sufficiently inclusive, as Brazilian scholars can testify to (Kowaltowski et al, 2022), and they may well only exist to enable perpetuation of the current, highly profitable system.…”

Section: Systemic Inequality Of Bronze Hybrid Gold and Green Open Acc...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Diamond is a scientist’s best friend

Andringa,

Mos,

Van Beuningen

et al. 2024

DuJAL

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The field of applied linguistics is increasingly adopting open science practices. As open access publication gains traction, ethical issues emerge that need to be addressed by the field. This viewpoint paper addresses the concern that open science is not equally open for everyone. This paper describes how open access publication is increasingly being commercialized and explains how open access publication coincides with systemic inequality. We offer the following viewpoints for the field to consider: We are morally obligated to make our research output accessible. Hybrid, Gold, and Green open access publishing lead to systemic inequality in open access publishing, benefiting commercial publishers and those working in research-intensive universities and rich countries. Diamond open access publication removes the systemic inequalities; hence, Diamond open access should be prioritized over Hybrid, Gold, and Green open access publication models. We should move away from publish-and-read agreements and Green open access publishing, because they prevent system change. Through our choices in our work as researchers, editors, reviewers, authors and teachers, we can contribute to the transition towards truly equitable open access publishing practices. Senior researchers are in the position and have the moral obligation to be drivers of these changes.

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Section: Systemic Inequality Of Bronze Hybrid Gold and Green Open Acc...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Diamond is a scientist’s best friend

Andringa,

Mos,

Van Beuningen

et al. 2024

DuJAL

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In order to make open science a reality, as was previously mentioned, numerous attempts have been made. The need to embrace open science as a new culture of conducting research is felt by many as a result this movement is increasingly becoming popular among scholars worldwide (Chiware and Skelly, 2022) (Leen, 2015).…”

Section: Open Science Initiatives At the Regional And Global Levelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Open Science and Policy Interface: The Tanzania Perspective

Muneja

2023

EAJSTI

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The 21st century has seen a paradigm shift in scholarly communication, with digital technology changing the entire process of the scholarly communication lifecycle. As the cost of online reference materials for research continues to rise and restrictive conditions persist, global academic and research communities are pursuing countermeasures to make knowledge equitable and accessible. This is made possible through the Open Science (OS) movement that aims to make knowledge accessible to researchers and citizens irrespective of their technical or financial capability. This paper explores open science to ascertain the status of open science practices in Tanzania. The paper highlights the policy interfaces and frameworks that favor open science practices in research endeavors. Also, it provides a baseline for understanding the situation to inform scientific research and education communities about the status of open science and possible areas of intervention. Open science is still in its infancy, although certain steps have been taken in adopting it for example the adoption of open access practices, including the creation of institutional repositories and the adoption of policies that direct its implementation. Additionally, the implementation of open data practices has been quite slow. Also, researchers and organizations in Tanzania are gradually adopting open data practices. Currently, some academic institutions, particularly public universities, have adopted and used open journal publishing systems, particularly the online journal system (OJS). The published journal articles through journal systems are freely accessible online like other open-access content, however, the journals are not yet registered in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) despite the fact that some are already indexed in different abstracting services such as Africa Journal Online (AJOL) and they have Digital Object Identifiers (DOI). The policy interface of open science needs to be harmonized and COSTECH is strategically positioned to take the lead.

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“…Open science also requires the recognition, support and training of researchers, participation of communities, development of infrastructures, policies and regulations and needs broader stakeholder engagement, coordination and high-level government support. 1 The aspect of open science on which we focus in this study is open access publishing. In Africa, the 'author pays' formula for researchers from the low-income countries has been cited as a major barrier to accessing the published literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Often, there is a gap to be filled in the development of open science policy. 3 Meanwhile, local journals may not be capable (in terms of human and financial resources) of adapting to the change from the traditional journal models to open science ones. The last, but not the least, challenging barrier is that most scientists or clinicians from such countries are not either aware of training opportunities or trained in open science including open access publishing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Open publishing of public health research in Africa: an exploratory investigation of the barriers and solutions

Machingura Ruredzo,

Agyei,

Sangare

et al. 2024

Insights the UKSG Journal

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A previous survey of African medical journals identified the need to assist journals and public health researchers to make publications more openly accessible. This article reports a subsequent survey to describe knowledge of, barriers to and interest in capacity building for open publishing of public health research in Africa. An online questionnaire collected information from 91 respondents in 16 African countries. The respondents were authors (75%) or reviewers (53%) of research articles, journal editors (40%) or journal publishers (19%), with overlap between them, and experience with both traditional and open access publications. Fewer than half of the respondents appreciated benefits of ready availability, added citations and transparency of open publishing. Some respondents chose incorrect answers. There was interest in open publishing using preprints and open reviews, and a majority would like access to free online courses and mentoring opportunities. This study notes a huge potential for equipping researchers in Africa with the skills to understand and use online publishing and provides guidance for future capacity building via access to online resources and mentoring. This is relevant for any discipline, such as public health, where local solutions based on local research findings are important.

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Open Science in Africa: What policymakers should consider

Cited by 4 publications

References 35 publications

Diamond is a scientist’s best friend

Diamond is a scientist’s best friend

Open Science and Policy Interface: The Tanzania Perspective

Open publishing of public health research in Africa: an exploratory investigation of the barriers and solutions

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