Promoting open scholarship in Africa: benefits and best library practices

Raju, Reggie; Adam, Amina; Powell, Crystal

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/89715 Copy

Description

Title

Promoting open scholarship in Africa: benefits and best library practices

Author(s)

• Raju, Reggie
• Adam, Amina
• Powell, Crystal

Issue Date

2015

Keyword(s)

• African librarianship
• Scholarship in Africa

Geographic Coverage

Africa

Abstract

Knowledge, as a prerequisite for development, is contingent on information. The main value of information is in its ability to be used, reused, and shared. Open access (OA) allows for the easy dissemination and preservation of information by providing all scholarly communication and knowledge at no cost to the end user. In the rapidly expanding, global knowledge-based economy, Africa’s steady progress from the peripheral to the epicenter of knowledge production is not to be ignored, not least because of its reliance on OA. Such access environments and institutional repositories throughout the continent are playing significant roles in maximizing the impact of research output. This paper reveals that OA content is more citable, not simply because of the quality of the output, but instead of the advantage that OA brings in maximizing accessibility and increased citation. It goes on to show that OA will enhance the research community’s existing system for evaluating and rewarding research productivity. Ultimately, OA has the ability to elevate (South) Africa, its universities and institutions, to the status of knowledge producers rather than mere knowledge consumers.

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

ISSN

0024-2594

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/89715

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2015.0036

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2013 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Owning Collections