Open access (OA) is the provision of free online access to research outputs, enhancing visibility and impact for authors, institutions, and publishers while supporting national development goals. The document discusses the benefits of OA for researchers, institutions, and libraries, as well as the importance of OA journals and repositories in Africa and the necessity for supportive policies and collaborative efforts. It also highlights the evolving role of researchers and research managers in promoting OA and the need for increased awareness and education about its benefits.

1. Open access for
researchers, research
managers and libraries
Iryna Kuchma
Open Access Programme Manager
Open Access and the Evolving Scholarly Communication
Environment workshop, July 9 2012, Makerere University
www.eifl.net Attribution 3.0 Unported

7. Open access (OA) is free,
immediate, online
access to the results of
research, coupled with
the right to use those
results in new and
innovative ways

9. “Restrictive access policies drastically
reduces readership of electronic research
journal articles. OA provides an
environment within which literature and
scholarly research articles are made freely
accessible online without license
restrictions and without charging users
subscription or access fees. OA is a vital
means of dissemination of information
which is crucial for national development
and in achieving MDGs, given the crucial
role that information plays in achieving
social, economic, cultural and political
development.”
Professor Frank Youngman, DVC, University of Botswana

10. OA for researchers
increased visibility
usage
& impact for their work

11. OA for research
institutions
publicises institutes’ research strengths
providing maximum return on investment
complete record of the research output in
easily accessible form
new tools to manage institution's impact

12. OA for publishers
increased readership & citations
visibility & impact
the best possible dissemination service
for research

13. OA for libraries
partnerships with scientists & research managers
to set up OA repositories, to curate research
data & to develop OA policies
partnerships with scholarly publishers to publish
OA journals & books
partnerships with educators to produce OERs

14. OA journals
Use a funding model that does not charge
readers or their institutions for access.
Users can read, download, copy,
distribute, print, search, or link to the
full texts of the journal articles.

16. [Bertalan Mesko is a medical doctor studying for a PhD in clinical
genomics at the University of Debrecen in Hungary. He published the
paper (Peripheral blood gene expression patterns discriminate among
chronic inflammatory diseases and healthy controls and identify novel
targets) in BioMed Central’s open access journal Medical Genomics
and shared it via his own English language blog, Scienceroll.com, his
Hungarian blog, MediQ.blog.Hu, Twitter, Friendfeed, and
ResearchGATE.
The results were swift and impressive. The article became one of the
most viewed on BioMed Central, earning the “highly accessed” badge,
and produced responses from his peers across a range of platforms.
“I received plenty of emails from colleagues from around the world
which means we could launch new collaborations with those working
in our field of interest. I received comments through my blog, Twitter
network where I have over 6000 followers, Facebook which I use for
professional reasons, and Friendfeed, where there is a scientific
community,” adds Dr Mesko.
While Dr Mesko had anticipated some of the reaction to his open
access and social media strategy, the opportunities it has opened up
for him exceeded all his expectations.]

19. OA journals in Africa
Over 420 OA journals from Egypt, South Africa,
Nigeria, Tunisia, Kenya, Morocco, Ethiopia,
Uganda, Tanzania, Libya, Ghana, Mauritius,
Madagascar, Algeria, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire,
Sierra Leone and Sudan
66068 full text articles in African Journals OnLine

34. MEDKNOW: Open Access Publishing for
Learned Societies and Associations, D.K.
Sahu (MD and CEO, Medknow Publications
and Media Pvt Ltd):
http://www.berlin8.org/userfiles/file/Berlin8.pdf
and
D. K. Sahu: Eight Facts and Myths About Open
Access Journals: An Experience of Eight
Years and Eighty Journals:
http://openmed.nic.in/3240/01/OAP_Myths.pdf

35. MEDKNOW: Open Access Publishing for
Learned Societies and Associations, D.K.
Sahu (MD and CEO, Medknow Publications
and Media Pvt Ltd):
http://www.berlin8.org/userfiles/file/Berlin8.pdf
and
D. K. Sahu: Eight Facts and Myths About Open
Access Journals: An Experience of Eight
Years and Eighty Journals:
http://openmed.nic.in/3240/01/OAP_Myths.pdf

38. OA repositories
Contain research outputs
Institutional or thematic
Interoperable (OAI-PMH)
Commons metadata protocol allows web
applications (text and data mining)

43. Snapshot of publication
outputs by discipline

47. OA repositories (2)
The need to evaluate researchers and
departments
As a response to requests from faculty
(“Open Repository Development in Developing and
Transition countries” conducted by EIFL and the University
of Kansas Libraries)

48. OA repositories (3)
Publicize an institute’s research
strengths, providing maximum return on
research investment.
Provide an administrative tool for
institutions.

49. OA repositories (4)
Increase impact and usage of institute's
research, providing new contacts and
research partnerships for authors.
Provide usage statistics showing global
interest and value of institutional
research.

50. Open access
repositories (5)
FOSS to set up, free technical support.
Low installation and maintenance costs,
quick to set up and gain benefits.
Institutions can mandate OA, speeding
development.

65. Swan, A. (2010) The Open Access citation
advantage: Studies and results to date. Technical
Report , School of Electronics & Computer Science,
University of Southampton:
http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/18516/

66. Swan, A. (2010)

67. Swan, A.

74. “My personal belief is that we should be
focussing on developing effective and
diverse measures of the re-use of research
outputs. By measuring use rather than merely
prestige we can go much of the way of
delivering on the so-called impact agenda,
optimising our use of public funds to generate
outcomes but while retaining some say over the
types of outcomes that are important and what
timeframes they are measured over.”
Cameron Neylon: Warning: Misusing the journal
impact factor can damage your science!
http://bit.ly/cbK2DK

75. re-use in industry
re-use in public health
re-use in education
re-use in policy development &
enactment
re-use in research
Cameron Neylon: (S)low impact research and the
importance of open in maximising re-use:
http://bit.ly/ntbzQ6

76. From SPARC Europe workshop “How to make your work OA”
Adapted from: John Houghton, Colin Steele and Peter Sheehan, Report to the Department of Education,
Science and Training “Research Communication Costs in Australia: Emerging Opportunities and Benefits”
[Online] Available at: http://www. dest . gov .au/NR/ rdonlyres /0ACB271F-EA7D-4FAF-B3F7-
0381F441B175/13935/DEST_Research_Communications_Cost_Report_Sept2006. pdf
10/10/11

77. “Access to relevant and timely
information is critical to support the
University’s mission of teaching,
learning, research and the managerial
functions of the University. Access to
information is also an essential
condition for the economic and social
development of the country. Open
access will enhance access to local
content and this goal can only be
achieved through collaborative
efforts.”
Professor Kamau Ngamau, Dean Faculty of Agriculture, JKUAT

78. “One of the key pillars of the University
of Botswana new strategic plan
“Strategy for excellence” is “Research
Intensification”. OA will help the
University of Botswana, Government,
and research institutions to achieve
this pillar by ensuring online
accessibility to public funded research
output that can be freely shared by
everyone, enhance research quality,
and improve visibility of the institution
and the nation globally.”
Prof. Frank Youngman, DVC, University of Botswana

79. Is OA on the
agenda at the AU?
Is the issue of Open Access to information through
libraries part of business for the African Union
(AU) when it comes to assessing countries’
performance under the African Peer Review
Mechanisms (APRM)?
(Matseliso M. (Tseli) Moshoeshoe-Chadzingwa, National University of
Lesotho, EIFL country coordinator in Lesotho and EIFL Advisory
Board member)

80. UNESCO-ASSAf-EIFL
OA workshop
Recommendations:
Capacity building: OA publishing and OA
repositories, copyright management
Advocacy campaigns for regulatory policy
frameworks – Require open access to
publicly funded research – explore
possibilities of OA mandates

81. CODIST II
“OA technologies could benefit Africa”
(pre-event of the Second Session of the
Committee on Development Information (CODIST
II): the workshop “Promoting Innovation
Development and Diffusion in Africa through
OA Publishing”, in May 2011 at the Economic
Commission for Africa (ECA).
Delegates examined ways to improve knowledge
sharing in Africa and to remove existing barriers.

82. CODIST II (2)
Participants recommended that Member States
should adopt appropriate OA policies and that
the ECA should take the leadership in these
activities.
“OA is a new way of publishing and of sharing
information in the 21st century. Everyone has a
role to play in knowledge development and
content sharing and everyone can make an
impact”, said Irene Onyancha, ECA’s Chief
Librarian.

84. The SOAP survey
11 EIFL partner countries: Bulgaria, China, Egypt,
Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, South
Africa, Thailand and Ukraine
About 86% of researchers are convinced that OA
publishing is beneficial to their research field
directly improving the way scientific community
work and providing the benefits outside the
scientific community – public good benefits.

85. The SOAP survey
(2)
About 63% of researchers published OA
articles.
Top five factors when making choices about
publishing in a journal: prestige
(prestige/perceived quality of the journal),
journal impact factor, speed of publication of
the journal, importance for career
(importance of the journal for academic
promotion, tenure or assessment), and
relevance of the journal for the community.

86. The SOAP survey
(3)
Publicly funded
research should be
made available to S tr o n g ly a g r e e
A g re e
be read and used
N e ith e r a g r e e n o r d is a g r e e
D is a g r e e
S tr o n g ly d is a g r e e
without access
barriers (n=3875)

87. The SOAP survey
(4)
OA articles are
likely to be read and
cited more often S t ro n g ly a g re e
A g re e
N e i t h e r a g r e e n o r d is a g r e e
than those not OA
D is a g re e
S t r o n g l y d is a g r e e
(n=3882)

88. The SOAP survey
(5)
OA publishing is
more cost-effective
than subscription-
based publishing
S t r o n g ly a g r e e
A g re e
N e it h e r a g r e e n o r d is a g r e e
and so will benefit
D is a g r e e
S t r o n g ly d is a g r e e
public investment in
research (n=3871)

89. The SOAP survey
(6)
Researchers should
retain the rights to
their published work S t ro n g ly a g re e
A g re e
and allow it to be
N e it h e r a g r e e n o r d is a g re e
D is a g re e
S t ro n g ly d is a g re e
used by others
(n=3872)

91. How OA benefits your
work and career
Distribution and usage
Immediate access to your research output for
everyone upon official publication
More visibility & usage
Immediate impact of your work
Intensification of research through fast
dissemination and use of research;
Possibly a citation advantage as well

92. How OA benefits your
work and career (2)
Plus:
Monitoring of your research output
Preservation of your research output by your
library
Keep your rights instead of signing them
away

93. What researchers
can do to promote
OA?
Submit your research articles to OA journals, when
there are appropriate OA journals in your field
Deposit your postprints in an OA repository
Deposit your data files in an OA repository along with
the articles built on them
When asked to referee a paper or serve on the
editorial board for an OA journal, accept the invitation

94. What researchers
can do to promote
OA? (2)
If you are an editor of a toll-access journal, then start a
discussion about converting to OA
Volunteer to serve on your university’s committee to
evaluate faculty for promotion and tenure. Adjust the
criteria to give faculty an incentive to provide OA to
their peer-reviewed research articles, either through
OA journals or OA repositories

95. What researchers
can do to promote
OA? (3)
Work with your professional societies to make sure they understand OA
Write opinion pieces (articles, journal editorials, newspapers op-eds,
letters to the editor, discussion forum postings) advancing the cause
of OA
Educate the next generation of scientists and scholars about OA
(From What you can do to promote open access written by Peter Suber
http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/do.htm)

96. “Michael Faraday’s advice to his junior colleague to:
“Work. Finish. Publish.” needs to be revised. It
shouldn’t be enough to publish a paper anymore. If
we want open science to flourish, we should raise
our expectations to: “Work. Finish. Publish.
Release.” That is, your research shouldn’t be
considered complete until the data and meta-data
is put up on the web for other people to use, until
the code is documented and released, and until the
comments start coming in to your blog post
announcing the paper. If our general expectations
of what it means to complete a project are raised to
this level, the scientific community will start doing
these activities as a matter of course.”
(What, exactly, is Open Science? by Dan Gezelter:
http://www.openscience.org/blog/?p=269)

97. What research
managers can do to
promote OA?
Introduce OA polices
Transform the TA journals into OA journals
Set-up OA repositories
Spread a word about OA

98. What libraries can
do to promote OA?
Set-up OA repositories
Help researchers and students to self-archive
Help to publish OA journals and create open
educational resources
Help in OA data curation and sharing
Spread a word about OA

99. Thank you! Questions?
iryna.kuchma@eifl.net
www.eifl.net