North-South Divide why Open Access in Africa

North-South Divide – why Open Access in Africa? Catherine Dubbeld University of Kwa. Zulu-Natal Durban, South Africa

The North-South Divide n n n Socioeconomic and political division between wealthy developed countries (“the North” and the poorer developing countries (“the South”) Not really a geographical term North = rich, South = poor Sometimes called the Development Gap Wikipedia, June 2007

“When it first appeared, the internet seemed…[as though it] would enable the planet to become the ‘global village’ envisaged by Marshall Mc. Luhan. Through the Web, the poor countries would be able to benefit, with unprecedented ease, from a myriad of databases, from training, from online courses, all of which would provide access to the knowledge society and allow these countries to catch up progressively with the pack of prosperous nations” The New Courier, [2005]

The Digital Divide n n n Technological gap between North and South Often seen as closely related to North -South Divide Widening

Year North Source 1999 90% internet users 1% (Africa / Middle East) PNUD Report (ETIC) 2003 19% of world has 91% users 1/3 of The New world Courier population has no electricity 2005 1 of every 1 out of The New 3 people every 130 Courier owns a PC people in Africa owns a PC

Bridging the Digital Divide n WSIS – World Summit on the Information Society, Geneva 2003 & Tunis 2005 • DD can be bridged if consensus on means • Declaration of Principles and 28 -point action plan • Definition of the knowledge society • President Wade of Senegal suggested a digital solidarity fund n Support from other organisations • IFAP, ETIC and many others

The Knowledge Society More than the Information Society because n Includes issues of development of content & diversity – Axel Plathe n Not just transmission of information but also content and use n Equipment needs social capital to help when it breaks down n Cultural capital needed to know where to look for information - Eric Guichard

Digital Literacy n n IFAP launched to develop digital literacy where access to the Web is poor; many other initiatives Diversity of language use on Web needs to be improved Need for content relevant to developing countries Growth of Internet use in sub-Saharan Africa: • 1995: 23 000 Internet users • 2005: nearly 9 million Internet users n Developing nations sometimes do it better • • • Bypass older technologies & infrastructure Far more people online when economies boom Better broadband access

Open Access to digital scholarly & research material n Immediate free and unrestricted online access via the Internet to published & peer -reviewed journal articles n Either through open access journals (gold) or n Through institutional repositories (green) n

Why is Open Access relevant to Africa? Brief history of OA

Brief History of Open Access A good way to promote scholarly communication • In the 17 th century, journals were an effective way of sharing scientific research with other scientists, so content was extremely important • No author paid – or was paid • Other scientists read and responded to the published work • Costs were paid by patrons and subscription • Administration of publication was usually unpaid • Publishers were academic societies and university presses • Libraries were seen as good places to make the journals available to others besides the subscribers

The model as before n n n In spite of the rise of capitalism made possible by the industrial revolution, this model survived until well into the 20 th century There were some changes – peer review was formalised and subscriptions were more important revenue sources than patronage Prices rose, but not too drastically Libraries were still very good agents for making the information available Everything else stayed more or less the same

Enter the robber baron of the information age n n n After WWII, Robert Maxwell of Pergamon Press started buying up academic journals and small university presses He took over the “burden” of publishing & administration, “so academics could concentrate on research” He charged them for publishing their articles “to pay for the administrative costs” He took over author copyright Prices went up, especially for libraries But authors and reviewers remained unpaid

Consequences n n n n Maxwell and other commercial publishers made huge profit margins and their empires grew Expensive journals became the place to publish Research councils funded research more highly in this kind of journal, because everyone read them Library budgets became more and more strained Universities lost control of their own research Content became gradually less important than delivery The situation was accepted by academics because of their need to publish their research, and because there seemed to be no alternative

The quiet revolution n The internet was developing – nonjournal scholarly communication started to use this new medium to express ideas In the early nineties, the World Wide Web was born With the Web came opportunities to publish in a new way, and a potentially unlimited audience

Major context changes n n n Internet archiving initiatives such as ar. Xiv, SPARC & OAI made it possible to archive research papers and share them with other researchers without having to pay expensive page charges Libraries started cost-sharing consortia The development of electronic journals made the option of publishing in open access journals possible Libraries began cancelling print journals in favour of electronic journals Some libraries cancelled for-profit journals in favour of open access journals

Reactions n n n Academics were unwilling to lose research funding Research funders were not convinced of the worth and viability of open access journals The Open Access Movement started off slowly, but rapidly picked up speed

Agents accelerating change n n n A number of studies showed that citations for articles in open access journals were higher than those in for-profit journals A number of public bodies, such as the National Library of Medicine (which made Pub. Med available in 1997), made a stand on the issue of tax dollar-funded research having to be in the public domain Open access advocacy became increasingly more effective

Developments in 2005 & 2006 n n 2005 - Major health funders, US National Institutes of Health & Wellcome Trust, strongly encouraged selfarchiving of articles soon after publication Research councils began reviewing policies in favour of open access • 2004 Canada Social Science & Humanities Research Council • Research Councils UK reviewing policy on access to research outputs • 2006 (April) European Commission study on publicly funded research • 2006 (May) US Federal Research Public Access Act introduced in Congress n OA peer reviewed journals increasing rapidly • DOAJ 2600 IN 2007 (25% increase over 2006) • Open J-Gate 2000

2005 -2006 continued n n Resignations of many editorial boards of for-profit journals to start OA journals For-profit journals including OA journals in their lists, experimenting with different models of payment, & allowing pre- & postprints to be archived For-profit journals anti-OA campaign backfires The debate continues

Why is Open Access relevant to Africa? Why not?

Why is Open Access relevant to Africa? n n n It’s a way of leapfrogging over the Digital Divide, enabling development and innovation It’s a way of making sure that researchers working in Africa get visibility in the world, and can be aware of what other researchers in Africa are doing By putting research results in the public domain, discussion is made possible and further innovation enabled It’s a way of paying back to the continent whose research resources have been as heavily plundered as its other resources It’s a way of using social and cultural capital to foster digital literacy Etc, etc

Some African initiatives n n n n African Journals Online - 1998 www. ajol. info/ African Digital Library - 1999 africaeducation. org/adl/ HINARI - 2002 Database of African Theses and Dissertations – 2003 www. aau. org/datad Africa’s Open Knowledge Network - 2003 African Online Digital Library www. aodl. org/ Pan. Afri. L 10 n www. panafril 10 n. org/wikidoc/pmwiki. php/Pan. Afr. Loc/Home Page

Conclusion “…Access to information is a pre-condition for becoming a knowledge society. Acknowledging a right of access to information not only allows access to the ideas of others, but also opens up the opportunity to participate in the global information-based socio-economic and political activities… the right of access to information has become the dominant right in the information and knowledge era. ” (PJ Lor & JJ Brits (2007). ‘Is a knowledge society possible without freedom of access to information? ’)