Access to Africa's Knowledge: Publishing Development Research and Measuring Value

Authors

Abstract

This paper reviews, critically, the discourse of research publication policy and the directives of the regional and global organisations that advise African countries with respect to their relevance to African scholarly communication. What emerges is a readiness to use the concepts and language of the public good, making claims for the power of technology to resolve issues of African development. However, when it comes to implementing scholarly publication policies, this vision of technological power and development-focused scientific output is undermined by a reversion to a conservative research culture that relies on competitive systems for valuing and accrediting scholarship, predicated upon the systems and values managed by powerful global commercial publishing consortia. The result is that the policies put in place to advance African research effectively act as an impediment to ambitions for a revival of a form of scholarship that could drive continental growth. While open access publishing models offer solutions to the marginalisation of African research, the paper argues that what is also needed is a re-evaluation of the values that underpin the recognition of scholarly publishing, to better align with the continent’s articulated research goals.

References

Altbach, P, Reisberg, L & Rumbley, L (2009). Trends in global higher education: Tracking an academic revolution, Report prepared for the UNESCO 2009 World Conference on Higher Education, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris, http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001831/183168e.pdf, accessed 23 September 2009.

Abrahams, L, Burke, M, Gray, E & Rens, A (2008). Access to knowledge in Southern African universities, in SARUA Study Series, Southern African Regional Universities Association, Johannesburg, http://www.sarua.org/?q=content/opening-access- knowledge-southern-african-universities, accessed 21 September 2009.

Benkler, Y (2003a). Freedom in the commons: Towards a political economy of information, Duke Law Journal, Vol. 52, No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651909333279

Benkler, Y (2003b). Through the looking glass: Alice and the constitutional foundations of the public domain, Law and Contemporary Problems, Vol. 173.

Benkler, Y (2006). The wealth of networks: How social production transforms markets and freedom, Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn. http://yupnet.org/benkler/, accessed 23 September 2009. https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651909333279

Bloom, D, Canning, D & Chan, K (2005). Higher education and economic development in Africa, World Bank, Washington. Bollier, D (2009). Putting the people back into economics, On the Commons, 13 October 2009, http://www.onthecommons.org/content.php?id=2540, accessed 23 September 2009.

Butcher, N, Wilson-Strydom, M, Hoosen, S, MacDonald, C, Moore, A & Barnes, L (2008). A profile of higher education in the region, in Kotecha, P (ed.), Towards a common future: Higher education in the SADC region. Research findings from four SARUA studies, Southern African Regional Universities Association, Johannesburg, http://www.sarua.org/?q=content/towards-common-future-higher-education-sadc-region-research-findings-four-sarua-studies-0, accessed 21 September 2009.

Candee, C (2008). It's not about open access, Presentation at the SPARC forum: Campus open access policies: The Harvard experience and how to get there, June 28, Anaheim, California, http://www.arl.org/sparc/meetings/ala08/index.shtml, accessed 23 September 2009.

Chan, L & Costa, S (2005). Participation in the global knowledge commons: Challenges and opportunities for research dissemination in developing countries, New Library World, Vol. 106, No. 3&4 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do;jsessionid=7817C782414347CE871DE519528CFCFE?contentType=Article&contentId=1463943, accessed 23 September 2009. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074800510587354

Chan, L, Kirsop, B & Arunachalam, S (2009). Open access archiving: The fast track to building capacity in developing countries, SciDev Net, 2 November 2009, http://www.scidev.net/en/science-communication/science-publishing/features/open-access-archiving-the-fast-track-to-building-r.html, accessed 23 September 2009.

Corbyn, Z (2009). A threat to scientific communication, Times Higher Education, 13 August 2009, http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=407705&c=1, accessed 21 September 2009.

DACST (1996). White paper on science and technology, South African Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Government Printer, Pretoria, http://www.dst.gov.za/publications/white_papers/Science_Technology_White_Paper.pdf, accessed 21 September 2009.

EU (2006). Study on the economic and technical evolution of scientific publication markets in Europe, European Union, Brussels, http://bookshop.europa.eu/eGetRecords?Template=en_log_freeDwnld&filename=/eubookshop/FileCache/PUBPDF/KINA22021ENC/KINA22021ENC_002.pdf&EUBPHF_UID=412728, accessed 21 September 2009.

Gevers, W & Mati, X (eds.) (2006). Report on a strategic approach to research publishing in South Africa, Academy of Science of South Africa, Pretoria, http://www.assaf.org.za/strat_report.html, accessed 23 September 2009.

Gray, E (2007). A critique of research dissemination policy in South Africa, with recommendations for reform, CPS International Policy Fellowship Programme, Central European University Centre for Policy Studies and the Open Society Institute, Budapest, http://blogs.uct.ac.za/blog/gray-area/resource/ipf_policy_paper/eve.gray.pdf, accessed 21 September 2009.

Gray, E & Burke, M (2008). African universities in the knowledge economy: A collaborative approach to researching and promoting open communications in higher education, in Chan, L & Monati, S (eds.), Open scholarship: Authority, community and sustainability in the age of web 2.0, Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Electronic Publishing, 25 – 27 June 2008, Toronto, Canada.

Guédon, J-C (2001). In Oldenburg's long shadow: Librarians, research scientists, publishers and the control of scientific publication, Paper presented at the 138th Membership Meeting of the Association of Research Librarians, May 2001.

Guédon, J-C (2007). Open access and the divide between ‘mainstream’ and ‘peripheral’ science, in Ferreira, S, Mara SP & Targino, M das G (eds.), Como gerir e qualificar revistas científicas, http://eprints.rclis.org/archive/00012156/, accessed 23 September 2009.

Guédon, J-C (2008). Accès libre, archives ouvertes et états-nations: Les stratégies du possible, ametist, No. 2AMETIST, http://ametist.inist.fr/document.php?id=465, accessed 23 September 2009.

Houghton, JW (2001). Crisis and transition: The economics of scholarly communication, Learned Publishing, Vol. 14, No. 3, July 2001, Journal of the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), London. https://doi.org/10.1087/095315101750240412

Houghton, JW, Steele, C & Henty, M (2003). Changing research practices in the digital information and communication environment, Department of Education, Science and Training, Melbourne, Australia, http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/research_sector/publications_resources/other_publications/changing_splitpdf.htm, accessed 23 September 2009.

Houghton, J and Sheehan, P (2006). The economic impact of enhanced access to research findings, CSES Working Paper, No. 23, Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, Melbourne, http://www.cfses.com/documents/wp23.pdf, accessed 23 September 2009.

Kapczynski, A, Chaifetz, S, Katz, Z & Benkler, Y (2005). Addressing global health inequities: An open licensing approach for university innovations, Berkeley Technology Law Journal, Vol. 20, University of California, Berkeley, CA, http://www.benkler.org/EALFinal.html, accessed 23 September 2009.

King, D (2004). The scientific impact of nations, Nature, Vol. 430, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v430/n6997/full/430311a.html, accessed 23 September 2009. https://doi.org/10.1038/430311a

Maron, NL & Smith, KK (2008). Current models of digital scholarly communication; results of an investigation conducted by Ithaka for the Association of Research Libraries, ARL, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0012.105

Mouton, J, Boshoff, N, de Waal, L, Esau, S, Imbayarwo, B, Ritter, M & van Niekerk, D (2008). The state of public science in the SADC region, Chapter 4, in Kotecha, P (ed.), Towards a common future: Higher education in the SADC region: Research findings from four SARUA studies (Study Series 2008), SARUA, Johannesburg, http://www.sarua.org/?q=content/chapter-4-state-public-science-sadc-region, accessed 21 September 2009.

NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) (2006a). African science, technology and innovation indicators (ASTII): Towards African indicator manuals: A discussion document, NEPAD Science and Technology, Pretoria.

NEPAD (2006b). Africa's science and technology consolidated plan of action, NEPAD Office of Science and Technology, Pretoria.

Productivity Commission (Australia) (2007). Public for science and innovation, Research report, Federal Government of Australia, Productivity Commission, Canberra, http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/science/docs/finalreport, accessed 30 November 2009.

Reddon, E (2009). An academic revolution, Inside Higher Ed, 22 November 2009, http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/07/07/unesco, accessed 30 November 2009.

Schieber, SM (2008). The Harvard OA experience, Presentation, 28 June 2008, Campus open access policies: The Harvard experience and how to get there, Anaheim, California, http://www.arl.org/sparc/meetings/ala08/index.shtml, accessed 23 September 2009.

Sen, A (1999). Development as freedom, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

So, AD, Sampat, BN, Rai, AK, Cook-Deegan, R & Reichman, JH (2008). Is Bayh-Dole good for developing countries? Lessons from the US experience, PLoS Biology, Vol. 6, No. 10.

Soros Foundation (2001). Budapest Open Access Initiative, http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml, accessed 21 September 2009. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0060262

Suber, P (2009). Open access in 2008, The Journal of Electronic Publishing, Vol. 12, No. 1. Suber, P (2007). Perspectives: Trends favouring open access, CT Watch Quarterly, August 2007, http://www.ctwatch.org/quarterly/articles/2007/08/trends-favoring-open-access/index.html, accessed 23 September 2009.

UNESCO (2005). Towards Knowledge Societies, UNESCO World Report, UNESCO Publishing, Paris, http://www.unesco.org/en/worldreport, accessed 21 September 2009.

Willinsky, J (2006). The access principle: The case for open access to research and scholarship, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.20.4.A439

Downloads

Published

15-02-2010

Issue

No. 10 (2010)

Section

Research Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2010 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Gray, E. (2010) “Access to Africa’s Knowledge: Publishing Development Research and Measuring Value”, The African Journal of Information and Communication (AJIC) [Preprint], (10). Available at: https://ajic.wits.ac.za/article/view/13713 (Accessed: 10 January 2026).
Views
  • Abstract 294
  • pdf 196