This was the second of a series of workshops on Advocacy and Capacity Building in Open Access & Open Science to top management staff in African Higher Education Institutions by the AAU and supporting partners PLOS and TCC Africa. It was hosted by the British University in Egypt.
In the last ten years, there have been 1, 674,503 publications from African Researchers out of which 40.6% is open access output. 1114 open access policies and mandates are currently included in the Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies(ROARMAP) as of 25th October. Of this number Africa has only 36 Open Science Institutional Mandates.
The Association of African Universities, the British University in Egypt, and supporting partners Training Centre in Communication (TCC Africa) and the Public Library of Science (PLOS) collaborated on a second of a series of workshops targeting research leadership in AAU member regions and universities with the objective of creating awareness and education on the importance and best practice of Open Access/Open Science. The desired outcome of the workshops is engagement and buy-in by the academic community on the adoption of Open Science.
Concerns for low adoption:
This is what was listed by the participants as the concerns and reasons for low adoption into research practice and processes within higher education Institutes Middle East & Northern Africa. https://docs.google.com/document/d/18EzOIlwwmPUmwEJ3RoLSyNa2FicY0EAie9mc7a1W1WE/edit?usp=sharing
Next Steps and Possible Course of Action:
This is what was listed by the participants as the next steps and possible courses of action in supporting their institutes in adopting Open Science.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cxQWv64-70nur3KJdu5L8nENFKtsUHut0EBg0WcI6_8/edit?usp=sharing
About the British University in Egypt
The British University in Egypt (BUE) is a private Egyptian university in Al Shorouk City, Cairo, Egypt. Founded in September 2005, through an inter-governmental agreement, the university provides a British style of education and awards degrees validated by its partner UK universities and the Egyptian Supreme Council of Universities. According to the Center for World university ranking(CWUR), the BUE was ranked in 2020 among the top 10 universities in Egypt.
For more information visit https://www.bue.edu.eg/
About the Association for African Universities
Founded in Rabat, Morocco on November 12, 1967, The Association of African Universities (AAU) is an NGO based in Accra, Ghana. The mission is “to enhance the quality and relevance of higher education in Africa and strengthen its contribution to Africa’s development”. While serving as the “voice of higher education” on the continent. With over 400 member institutions across Africa, AAU provides a forum for cooperation and exchange of information on higher education and research policies, creating spaces for research, reflection, consultation, debates, co-operation, and collaboration on issues pertaining to higher education.
Read more about AAU here
About the Public Library of Science
PLOS is a nonprofit, open-access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. Since our founding in 2001, PLOS journals have helped break boundaries in research communication to provide more opportunities, choices, and context for researchers and readers.
For more information, visit http://www.plos.org.
About the Training Centre in Communication Africa
The Training Centre in Communication (TCC Africa) is the first African-based training center to teach effective communication skills to scientists. TCC Africa is an award-winning Trust, established as a non-profit entity in 2006 and registered in Kenya. TCC Africa provides capacity support in improving researchers’ output and visibility through training in scholarly and science communication.
For more information, visit www.tcc-africa.org
TCC Africa (Training Centre in Communication), PLOS (Public Library of Science), and AAU (Association of African Universities) collaborated with the intent to increase awareness and education of Open Science and Open Access in Africa.
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