This document discusses open access publishing in Africa. It notes that while internet connectivity is improving, access to resources like computers, research funding, and scientific literature remains limited. Open access publishing provides an opportunity to overcome barriers by making research freely available online without subscription fees. Several initiatives aim to support open access in Africa, including waiving publication fees, providing editing assistance, and growing open access journals relevant to African research. Repositories also help make research openly accessible.

1. Open Access in Africa Deborah Kahn Publishing Director, BioMed Central Ltd

2. Open Access Africa 2011 Bringing together researchers, librarians, funding bodies and technology companies to discuss how open access publishing can support science in Africa

4. The old world of access to knowledge

5. The new world of access to knowledge

6. African internet connectivity is improving dramatically

7. Growth of mobile phones in Africa Source: African Mobile Factbook 2008 International Telecommunications Union report (2009) “ The increase in the number of mobile cellular subscriptions over the last five years has defied all predictions and Africa remains the region with the highest mobile growth rate” Although number of Internet users has also grown faster than in other regions: “ Africa’s ICT penetration levels in 2009 are still far behind the rest of the world and very few African countries reach ICT levels comparable to global averages”

8. Mobile phone networks are already aiding scientific data gathering

9. As connectivity improves, other access barriers become significant Access to computers Computer skills Access to research funding Access to the scientific literature Skills to write scientific papers Available outlets to publish

10. Access to computers and computer skills

11. Access to Research Funding Many initiatives to improve funding of science in Africa Governmental sources NGOs Research funders Private initiatives

12. New Plant Bioinformatics Academy in Accra Article published in Science on 30 th September about a new academy being set up in Accra to develop bioinformatics skills in plant breeders

13. Access to the Scientific Literature Traditional journals take ownership of the research provide access to subscribers only Open access journals have no subscription barriers take advantage of the economics of the internet to allow universal access research is openly licensed to allow reuse

14. Characteristics of Open Access The publisher charges directly for the service of publication/ dissemination Research permanently available via the Internet No barriers to access such as subscription costs Licensed so as to allow redistribution and reuse (Creative Commons) Archived in an internationally recognized repository (e.g. PubMed Central)

15. Open Access Waiver Fund All African countries receive automatic waiver, except: Algeria Botswana Equatorial Guinea Gabon Libya Namibia South Africa

16. What does the APC cover Open access journals need to cover the costs of managing peer review, Development, maintenance and operation of online journal systems Formatting and mark up of articles, inclusion in indexing services Making sure readers and authors know about the journal Responding to authors/readers Publication fee is a very small fraction of the cost of doing research Most open access publishers give waivers to authors from developing countries In many cases, open access journals have central support, so no charges for authors or readers

17. Open Access publishing is growing fast

18. Improving skills to write scientific papers

20. Free Editing for African scientists submitting to BMC Journals To mark Open Access Africa 2011, Edanz will provide free editing for 20 African authors submitting to 5 BioMed Central Journals that are particularly relevant to African authors AIDS Research and Therapy BMC Public Health International Journal for Equity in Health Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine Virology Journal Where the journal editor feels the science of the paper is good but that the language needs polishing before submission and the author’s funding conditions could make it difficult to obtain the high level editing needed. The journal editor will refer the author to Edanz for free language editing

21. About BioMed Central Largest publisher of peer-reviewed open access journals Launched first open access journal in 2000 Became part of Springer in 2008 Now publishes over 220 open access journals >100,000 peer-reviewed OA articles published All research articles published under Creative Commons license Costs covered by article processing charge (APC)

22. Some BioMed Central journals

23. BioMed Central submissions

24. BioMed Central and Africa

25. ComputerAid

26. Growth in manuscript submissions from Africa to BioMed Central

27. Submissions from Africa compared to total

28. BMC Foundation Membership A new type of membership created for developing nations Designed to support Open Access advocacy No cost

29. Criteria for Foundation Membership Institution should have a Open Access policy in place Institution should have published at least 5 articles in BioMed Central journals in the last year

30. Benefits of Foundation Membership A BMC Webpage A Member welcome pack Membership usage reports Member logo/badge for use on institution website PR of Membership

32. Malaria Journal - an open access journal case study

33. Malaria Journal homepage

34. Annual growth in submissions to Malaria Journal

35. Top 20 African countries publishing in Malaria Journal (no. of articles) Kenya 68 Tanzania 59 Nigeria 33 South Africa 30 Uganda 29 Ghana 21 Benin 16 Madagascar 14 Sudan 12 Ethiopia 11 Zambia 10 Cameroon 9 Senegal 9 Malawi 9 Mali 9 Burkina Faso 8 Cote d'Ivoire 7 Gabon 6 Gambia 6 Mozambique 3

36. Impact Factor trend

37. A highly accessed Malaria Journal article 17,000+ downloads 41 citations

38. Parasite to Prevention - Malaria Journal ’s scientific conference Inaugural conference October 2010, Edinburgh, Scotland Full bursaries for participants from low-income countries, supported by Gates Foundation Next conference 2012

39. Other high profile open access journals relevant to tropical diseases

40. The latest open access research on global health issues

42. Open Access repositories Allow archiving of articles published both in traditional journals and open access journals Traditional publishers typically only allow author version to be archived Many require a 6 or 12 month embargo period Open access articles can be deposited and made immediately available

43. Open Repository Hosted digital repository service, operated by BioMed Central Built on the DSpace open-source platform Dramatically reduces time and costs involved in setting up, maintaining and developing a repository Hosting in UK ensures maximum international exposure

44. MSF 1

45. MSF 2

46. Thanks, and enjoy the rest of the conference!