Challenges and opportunities of linking Open Access and Open Science with the Sustainable Development Goals

Editor's Notes

• #3: Open access and its potential Participatory and collaborative Challenging existing power hierarchy and reputation Gaps in the SDGs Inequality – inherently structural Treating the symptoms, not the cause
• #6: Will open access change the current power structure of global scientific production and dissemination? Hierarchy of knowledge created by an artifical systerm of “excellence” – that relegates science and scholarship that do not contribute to “world or international science” as being local and therefore irrelevant – and render invisible Deeply structural = unequeal distribution of power and prestige
• #7: Research is essential for informing policy, especially policies related to development
• #8: The right to science envisages the scientific and technological endeavor as a process that every person is entitled to participate in—a collective and collaborative process that can help to unite a frequently fragmented world.
• #10: The OCSDNet is a newly aunched initiative funded the International Development Research Centre in Canada and the Department For International Development/UK –UKAID. The project is being jointly coordinated by iHub based in Nairobi, Kenya, and the Centre for Critical Development Studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough where I work. The network project is supported by an international team of expert advisors and Cameron Neylon is a key advisor to the project – advisors play a key role in overseeing the overall directions of the project and in mentoring the grant receipients of the project subgrants Out starting assumption, one that will be the subject of critical assessment, is that open approaches to knowledge production have the potential to radically increase the visibility, reproducibility, efficiency, transparency and relevance of scientific research, while expanding the opportunities for a broad range of actors to participate in the knowledge production process.This latter claim about increased and more equitable particiatpions of researchers from the global South or marginalizaed regions is indeed one of the areas of focus for the OCSDNet .
• #11: Both IDRC and DFID UKAID are strong supporter of Open Access and Openess and the emerging notion of Open Development Development agencies such as the World Bank, Department for International Development in the United Kingdom and UNESCO are paying close attention to the ‘openness’ agenda and are supporting a variety of initiatives and policy development in these areas. Most recently the Gates Foundation, and WHO general hypothesis - that open models and systems enabled by the Internet and pervasive technologies (such as mobile telephony), coupled with alternative Intellectual Property Rights regimes, may result in democratizing and network effects, which can in turn lead to greater access, participation, and collaboration in a number of fields and sectors – thereby leading to improved well being for individuals and their communities IDRC is funding research in interrogating the quality of openness and the effects on education, in science and knowledge production, government, and in social enterprise, particularly the creative industries It is in this broad context that the OCSDNet project is supported.
• #15: what open access policy should look like in the developing world. This is likely to  include open access publication; the recognition of a wider range of  research outputs; repository and communication strategies that recognize this and which take account of the realities of available capacity and infrastructure. And – a challenging issue – how to change reward and recognition systems to bring them into line with the real strategies of governments and institutions? importance of new governance frame- works that provide lasting arrangements for secured funding The right to science envisages the scientific and technological endeavor as a process that every person is entitled to participate in—a collective and collaborative process that can help to unite a frequently fragmented world.
• #17: SDGs – statement of aspirations – a voluntary agreement with no legally binding obligations signing member states Long term visions that is often lacking in national planning and policy driven by short term political gain Goals supposed to be for all nations, not just developing countries, but often it is often vague as to who the instructions are directed? Who is supposed to be responsible for taking the actions? Who are supposed to be the acting agents? Should not simply appeal to government and powerful agents for greater efforts, but should call for structural reforms of the global institutional order that conditions the options and incentive of these agents. --- Jean Claude Guedon re the institutions that priviledge knowledge of the Global North The need to include strong human rights language – Lyon Declaration importance of the access to information as a human rights Indicators? Incentives?
• #20: Three international funding bodies are giving seed cash of around US$4.5 million to establish the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA). The London-based biomedical charity the Wellcome Trust also hopes to transfer the management of millions of dollars in its research funds to the alliance. AESA’s other two backers are the UK Department for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington. The idea is that AESA will be a platform for managing Africa-focused research programmes and a think tank to direct the continent’s science. In addition to serving as a scientific think tank, AESA will manage more than $70 million in Africa- focused research programmes as part of its broader effort to build pan-African scientific capacity and leadership.
• #21: metrics of total publications and citations. Top 15 countries account for 82% of total publications Author with African institutional affiliation account for less than 1% of global output, and S. Africa has the highest output. The rest are “invisible” Consequence of trying to publish in “International” journal results in neglect of important local problems and solutions that are appropriate for local conditions.
• #22: Three international funding bodies are giving seed cash of around US$4.5 million to establish the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA). The London-based biomedical charity the Wellcome Trust also hopes to transfer the management of millions of dollars in its research funds to the alliance. AESA’s other two backers are the UK Department for International Development and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, Washington. The idea is that AESA will be a platform for managing Africa-focused research programmes and a think tank to direct the continent’s science. In addition to serving as a scientific think tank, AESA will manage more than $70 million in Africa- focused research programmes as part of its broader effort to build pan-African scientific capacity and leadership.
• #23: FAO, IFLA, COAR, EIFL
• #25: big issue, which is the financing of science, technology and innovation in Africa by African governments,” he says. The absence of commitments mean that heads of state will probably adopt it without much debate, he adds, and governments will be able to ignore it easily thereafter.
• #26: big issue, which is the financing of science, technology and innovation in Africa by African governments,” he says. The absence of commitments mean that heads of state will probably adopt it without much debate, he adds, and governments will be able to ignore it easily thereafter.
• #27: The time has come for countries to seriously support biodiversity information e-infrastruc- tures: some must support initial steps in implementation, whereas other countries (e.g., Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, and many others) have the luxury of having facilities already in place. If effective steps to secure the permanence of e-infrastructures are not taken soon, we will risk having biological data, which are currently organized and made available globally, once again inaccessible. In the case of Brazil, speciesLink is in immediate peril of disappearing. Brazil is one of the most diverse countries in the planet [18], holding ~19% of all existing plant species [19]; thus, speciesLink is not only of interest to Brazilian people and government any- more but has acquired importance in the global scenario as well. Not only will the hundreds of thousands of users of this system miss this crucial research and policy infrastructure, but the social scientific network linked to the e-infrastructure may lose strength.
• #28: Will open access change the current power structure of global scientific production and dissemination? Hierarchy of knowledge created by an artifical systerm of “excellence” – that relegates science and scholarship that do not contribute to “world or international science” as being local and therefore irrelevant – and render invisible Deeply structural = unequeal distribution of power and prestige
• #29: what open access policy should look like in the developing world. This is likely to  include open access publication; the recognition of a wider range of  research outputs; repository and communication strategies that recognize this and which take account of the realities of available capacity and infrastructure. And – a challenging issue – how to change reward and recognition systems to bring them into line with the real strategies of governments and institutions? importance of new governance frame- works that provide lasting arrangements for secured funding The right to science envisages the scientific and technological endeavor as a process that every person is entitled to participate in—a collective and collaborative process that can help to unite a frequently fragmented world.