Putting South African

Research on the Map

Open Access DayUniversity of the Western

Cape 21 October 2009

Eve Gray

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Photo: Kudumomo

Open Access as a tool for

researchers

Eve GrayHonorary Research Associate

Centre for Educational Technology University of Cape

Townhttp://blogs.uct.ac.za/blog/gray-

area

The aim in Open Access week -

African knowledge, for Africa, from Africa, widely accessible...

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Is this the case now?

Are we stuck in an outdated paradigm?

“Over the last few decades, some things have not changed. There’s been no significant break in relations of knowledge production between the colonial and post-colonial eras. African universities are essentially consumers of knowledge produced in developed countries.”Blade Nzimande, UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education 2009

Science Research - articles Science Research - articles publishedpublishedhttp://www.worldmapper.org

© Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan).

Unequal global knowledge relations•Africa produces around 3% of

books published, but consumes around 12%.

•Africa produced 0.4% of online content in 2002 – if South Africa is excluded, 0.02%.

•Does this really mean that African research has nothing to say?

... What we do have a lot of is

poverty

http://www.worldmapper.org © Copyright 2006 SASI Group (University of Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan).

Human povertyHuman poverty

The dilemma for researchers -

scholar or public intellectual?

Photo: Kudumomo

Right now we are driven by reward systems linked to

‘publication counts’.... citation

counts,

... behind this is a ... behind this is a commercial system commercial system

seeking ever-seeking ever-stronger IP to stronger IP to

ensure control over ensure control over content for content for

maximum profits..maximum profits...

Our universities, in particular, should be Our universities, in particular, should be directing their research focus to address the directing their research focus to address the development and social needs of our development and social needs of our communities. The impact of their research communities. The impact of their research should be measured by how much difference should be measured by how much difference it makes to the needs of our communities, it makes to the needs of our communities, rather than by just how many international rather than by just how many international citations researchers receive in their citations researchers receive in their publications.publications.

Speech at the Women in Science Awards, August 2009

[There is] the need for an education and training system that fosters the values of social solidarity and caring, in order to confront the ideological companion of neo-liberalism, that of promoting greed and selfishness...

Can Open Access help

achieve these goals?

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•Builds on collaboration and a tradition of collegiality

•Depends upon sharing rather than proprietorship, access rather than protection

•Efficiencies and economies of collaborative development Networked rather than hierarchical structures

•Networked rather than hierarchical structures

The ethos of OA

Information on Open Access

What is Open Access?

•Free and immediate availability on the Internet

•Allowing users to read, download, copy, distribute, print....

•Without unnecessary financial, legal, technical barriers

•But with author control of the integrity of work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited

Advantages of Open Access

• Substantial increase in reach and impact, particularly for developing country publications

• Openness decreases the risk of duplication, removal of competition makes science less wasteful

• Science made faster, speeds up the solution of urgent development needs

• Wider reach of research, better returns for research investment

• Better monitoring, assessment and management of research

How does Open Access work?

Open Access repositories

•Digital collections of the outputs created within a university or research institution

•Can be subject based or institutional

•Used to enhance the profile of the institution and individual researchers

World map of repositories

http://maps.repository66.org/

Directory of repositories

http://www.opendoar.org/

How to have your cake and eat it...

The ‘green route’

The benefits for the researcher

•Much wider access to journal articles, removal of cost barriers

•Higher levels of access, leading to higher citations, more impact

•Still linked to the prestige of major journals

Using repositories to profile a wider range of

research

Profiling authors

Open access journals

4,000 open access journals listed, all peer reviewed and quality controlled

... and listed in the citation indexes..

OA journals part of SA national policy

Open Access for institutional

profiling

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This approach has proved very effective in

profiling HSRC research

worldwide

Can we conquer the world and create our own vision of what

excellence means in South African

research?