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Gideon Emcee Christian

IDRC Research Intern

Open Access Initiative and the Developing World:

Using ICT to Foster Development

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“Our mission of disseminating knowledge is

only half complete if the information is not made

widely and readily available to society”

Budapest Open Access Initiative

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Open Access

Free availability of research articles or publications on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute or print the articles or publications,… pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited. (Budapest Open Access Initiative)

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Nature of Open Access

Free availability on the public Internet

Licensed to use for any legal purpose

Subject only to proper acknowledgment

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Benefits to developing countries

Unrestricted access to knowledge

Speed and reduced cost of distribution

Access to grey literatures from developing world

Expanded opportunity to publish

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 JOURNAL/PUBLISHER

 FREQUENCY

 SUBS. RATE IN 1989

 SUBS. RATE IN 1997

 SUBS. RATE IN 2002/03

PERCENT INCREASE SINCE 1997 (BASED ON US $ RATES) African Journal of the

Int’l Institute (Edinburgh Uni. Press)

 Quarterly

 $121

 $200

 $374

 87%

Africa Confidential (Blackwell Publishers) 

 25 issues/yr 

 $250 

 $468 

 $970* 

 107% 

African Affairs (Oxford University Press)

 Quarterly

 $65

 $65

 $230*

 253%

African Studies (WitUni. Press, now Taylor & Francis)

 2 years

 $13 

 $37 

 $189 

 410% 

Canadian Journal of African Studies

 3 years

 Can$55 

 Can$55 

 Can$95 

 72% 

Journal of Contemporary African Studies (Carfax, now Taylor & Francis) 

 2 years

 ---- 

 $154 

 $465* 

 202% 

The Rise and Rise of Journal Subscription rates

Note: all subscription rates are institutional rates; * indicates print and online access for rates in 2002/2003

© Hans Zell (2003): "The Rise and Rise of Journal Prices in African Studies,"

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Expenditure per pupil (1995) North America, $5150

Europe $4552

Latin America and the Caribbean $444

Sub-Saharan Africa $87

Increase in per capital educational spending 1985 – 1995

North America +66%

Europe +152

Latin America and the Caribbean +110%

Sub-Saharan Africa –5%

Source: Arnove and Torres “Comparative Education: The Dialectic of the Global and the Local”

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Some Open Access Initiatives in Developing

Countries Health Inter Network Access to Research

Initiative (HINARI)

Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA)

Database of African Theses and Dissertations (DATAD)

African Journal On-line (AJOL)

Bioline International

IDRC Digital Library

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Obstacles to Open Access in developing Countries

Poor State of ICT in developing countries

Less than 4 per cent of Africans have Internet access

Broadband penetration is below 1 per cent

70 per cent of all continental traffic goes outside Africa, driving up costs for consumers. The cost of Internet connectivity in Africa, is the highest in the world — some USD 250-300 per month.

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

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Other Obstacles

Copyright

Exploitation without compensation

Lack of Awareness and Misconception of Open Access

Research Capacity

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There are many problems, particularly health issues that are crying out for

solutions. These problems will be addressed most effectively where they are

felt most…We know more about these diseases and the seriousness and gravity

of the associated problems. For this reason it is important for us, in developing

countries, to be able to perform science here.

Arunachalam

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IDRC supports training and awards programs for Canadians and

developing-country nationals collaborative research between Canadian and

Southern partners linkages with Canadian institutions small grants projects and activities undertaken by

Canadian organizations

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“IDRC will support technical and social innovations that contribute to the

betterment of the social, economic, and environmental conditions of the poor, oppressed, and marginalized people in

countries of the South.”

IDRC Corporate Strategy 2005—2010