Open access in the developing world Ruth King Publisher, BioMed Central

“My work on biomedical research in developing countries has shown me that lack of access to current publications has a severe impact. … The vast majority of biomedical scientists in Africa attempt to perform globally competitive research without up-to-date access to the wealth of biomedical literature taken for granted at western institutions.” Winston Hide, Harvard School of Public Health

Global forum for communication and collaboration Unrestricted access to latest international research International visibility for local research Breaks down barriers between disciplines High visibility to search engines Encourages social sharing Engages the public, policy-makers, decision- makers

Open access research is licensed to encourage reuse Translation into local languages Print distribution Educational course material Re-use of data / figures Text-mining Deposit in institutional repositories

Key subject areas –Global health, Public health –Infectious disease, Microbiology, Virology –Veterinary research, Plant biology, Agriculture –Cancer –Bioinformatics, Genomics

Malaria Journal: an open access success story

Malaria Journal Impact Factor

Highly accessed research from Africa 100,000+ downloads 14 citations 23 FB likes! Still receiving thousands of accesses per month

Repositories and OA publishing

Waiver fund for authors in low-income countries Applies to all low and low- middle income countries that have GDP<$200bn >5% of total articles are being published under scheme

Open Access Africa Researchers, librarians, journal editors, funders and other stakeholders share ideas on how open access publishing can support science in Africa

Open Access Africa 2010Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya 2011Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana 2012UCT, Cape Town, South Africa

Open Access Africa outcomes Sudan’s first Institutional Repository, created by the University of Khartoum, was a direct result of Open Access Africa 2010 “Foundation membership” scheme introduced by BioMed Central, to showcase research from organizations in low-income countries which have policies in place to encourage open access New open access groups formed in Nigeria and Ghana Greater awareness of challenges faced by open access journals based in Africa Technology and communication infrastructure is improving, but challenges remain

Summit on sustainability of open access publishing in Africa AJOLAJOL, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bioline International, BioMed Central, Carnegie Corporation, DFID, INASP/ Publishers for Development, KNUST, Medicins Sans Frontiers, Pan African Medical Journal, Public Library of Science, Shuttleworth Foundation, Stellenbosch University, The Association of Commonwealth Universities, UNECA, Wellcome Trust, WHO, World BankBill and Melinda Gates FoundationBioline InternationalBioMed CentralCarnegie Corporation DFIDINASP/ Publishers for Development KNUSTMedicins Sans FrontiersPan African Medical JournalPublic Library of ScienceShuttleworth FoundationStellenbosch UniversityThe Association of Commonwealth UniversitiesUNECAWellcome Trust WHOWorld Bank

Summit outcomes Commitment to OA from funders and institutions Funders want their funds to be used to make research OA Capacity building Research and publishing expertise Improving the reputation of open access Showing that prestigious research is published OA Effective OA communication/advocacy Showing the value proposition Getting buy-in from the African influencers

The World Bank The World Bank supports the free online communication and exchange of knowledge as the most effective way of ensuring that the fruits of research, economic and sector work, and development practice are made widely available, read, and built upon. Open access policy (CC-BY) Open Knowledge Repository (OKR) Open data initiative

How can you contribute? Links to institutions, funders, decision- makers.. Advocating the practical benefits of OA Capacity building workshops

Thank you