OAA12 - Open access in Africa: Some issues and questions.
- 1. Open Access in Africa – Some Issues and Questions Open Access Africa, 2012 04 - 05 November 2012 University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. Omonhinmin A. Conrad Ph.D Co-ordinating, Open Access Nigeria Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science & Technology, Covenant University, Ota, NIGERIA. conrad.omonhinmin@covenantuniversity.edu.ng
- 2. Open Access - A Recast …to eliminate access barriers to scientific literature, accelerate research, enrich education, share knowledge between the rich and the poor and make useful knowledge available for common intellectual good1
- 5. So before we forget … We may leap frog to the open, but the bushes (behind) are not cleared
- 6. Poor funding Them African researchers face several fund- centred challenges We
- 8. Inaccessibility and poor dissemination of Information What truly is access? How Open is this access to us in Africa? Are the means there to achieve accessibility? Does availability implies accessibility? How do we improve accessibility by Africans? How many are aware of OA What are in place to ensure good level of awareness? .....
- 9. Inaction on relevant information ...lack of motivation to act on relevant information either for personal or general interest of all ...grown with years of inability to participate on most platforms ...unsettling attitude of waiting on others for handouts ...lack of understanding of OA
- 11. Poor Understanding of Open Access Issues Probably most revealing is the fact that the African researcher may not really understand the open access issue; what it entails and where it will eventually lead ....does open access publishing translate into free publishing, free access to published materials? ...Is it both or either?
- 14. Poor Commitment by Publishers and Institutions How committed are the players in open access arena? Do institutions see OA as a platform for improving the research base and information access of their researchers or another route to high scores?
- 16. African Journals, African Researcher How will OA affect African Journals? If the visibility of the poorer journals in Africa already starved of fund decreases, will it not mean a closure for such journals? Will it not escalate an already worrisome dependency on non-African journals by African?
- 18. Directory of Open Access Journals Does the number of journals on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) actually reflect the level of FREE and OPEN access? Has the open access movement truly improve the publishing condition and access of the African researcher? How practicable is the 'author pays' model of open access and how realistic is the standard author fees demanded by most open access journals.
- 19. International – Local Journal Complex, Impact Factor, Webometric Rating ...the divide between what we refer to international and local Journals or rich and poor journals bring another issue on the board and a great challenge to actualizing the open access ideals.
- 21. Concluding thoughts What concrete actions are there by African governments to handle the open access issues? If our coming to South Africa is anything to go by, we a lot need to be done How does BMC circumvent the unrealistic World Bank ranking with regards to her “Foundational membership” offer to institutions in Africa?
- 23. Thank you