The document discusses the need for an African Open Science Platform. It outlines three key reasons why: 1) Africa needs to adopt open science to avoid being left behind in the digital revolution and ensure science serves African interests. 2) Open science provides opportunities for under-resourced countries and is a human rights issue promoting equity. 3) Science academies are well-positioned to support open science by providing credible advocacy to counter views of inferior open access publications, influencing policy through independent advice, and leading open scholarly initiatives. The Academy of Science of South Africa commits funding and staff to support the development of an African Open Science initiative using its networks and experience with open access.

1. Applying scientific thinking
in the service of society
AFRICAN OPEN SCIENCE
PLATFORM
Stakeholder Workshop
Response of African Science
Roseanne Diab

2. Response from ASSAf
• Why Africa needs open science
• Why science academies should be involved
• Support from Academy of Science of South
Africa

3. Why Africa needs Open Science
• Strong movements towards Open Science
internationally – sense of urgency if Africa is
not to be left behind in the accelerating digital
and data revolution
• Concern that without proper safeguards Open
Science and particularly open data could
reinforce an extractive international science
system that does not always serve Africa well

4. Why Africa needs Open Science
• Open Science agenda in Africa must be
African-driven
• Provides opportunities for under-resourced
countries
• A human rights issue that contributes towards
addressing equity considerations

5. Why academies should be
involved
• Many perceptions about open access
publications being of inferior quality – need to
counter these views
• Academies are well positioned for this role as
they have credibility and stand for excellence
– the weight of the academy voice is essential
• Academies are powerful because of the
reputation of their members/fellows

6. Why academies should be
involved
• Academies are independent and able to
express objective, evidence-based views on
critical issues such as Open Science
• Positioned to give science advice to
governments and can support development of
policies in Open Science
• Strong network of academies across Africa

7. Why academies should be
involved
• Many have leadership role in open scholarly
publishing and promote open access and open
data, ethical publishing practices etc. – leads
naturally to Open Science

8. ASSAf Support for Open Science
• As host organisation of ISC ROA, ASSAf
strongly supports this ISC initiative and
commits to continued support
• Accessed funding from DST and seconded staff
to Open Science initiative
• Used academy and ROA networks to promote
Open Science across Africa
• Built on open access experience through
SciELO SA to support Open Science

9. THANK YOU