Open Science
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Item Unlocking open science in Africa: Mentorship and grassroot community building(IOS Press, 2023-12-15) Kibet, Caleb K.Open Science is becoming increasingly popular among scientists worldwide, but African researchers have hesitated to adopt it. This keynote speech addresses the current state of open science in Africa and the challenges researchers face in implementing open science practices. As an open science advocate and mentor in Africa, I share my experiences and discuss the role of mentorship and grassroots community building in overcoming these challenges. Various initiatives, such as OpenScienceKE, H3ABioNet, and BHKi, aim to increase awareness, empower members, and encourage collaboration to promote open science, information sharing, resource sharing, and the visibility of African research. It is essential to involve all stakeholders within local communities and empower grassroots communities. Like planning for a mountain climb, providing the necessary support to facilitate success is crucial. The article highlights the importance of inclusivity and support to overcome barriers and challenges to reap the benefits of open science. I show how culture changes towards openness, breaking down barriers, empowerment, allyship, and grassroots community building are pathways to achieve this change.Item The Future of Open Science: Unlocking Knowledge Together – Open Science Training(2023-10-31) Nyirongo, RevelationUbuntuNet Alliance under the AfricaConnect3 project invited 20 librarians to participate in a one-day Open Science training session a day before the UbuntuNet Connect 2023 Conference.Item Facilitating the implementation of Open Science practices across Africa(2024-03-08) Mchunu, Nokuthula P.; Masisi, KeletsoThis session is part of the AfricArXiv Webinar Series on Open Science for the Discoverability of African Research.Item Open Science in Africa – Challenges, Opportunities and Perspectives(2018-11-24) Ahinon, Justin, Sègbédji; Havemann, JohannaOpen Science is becoming increasingly popular globally and provides unprecedented opportunities for scientists in Africa, South East Asia, and Latin America. African scientists face several difficulties when attempting to get their work published in peer reviewed journals -there is a small number of publication platforms, a lack of knowledge and access difficulties related to existing journals, whose visibility on the web is not very good (Piron et al., 2017). There are also obstacles related to the functioning of the journals themselves (notably the duration of the revision process and the cost of publications) and the result is that science and scholarly publishing are often perceived as a prerogative of the Northern countries. The methods and techniques (including the peer review process) that are being developed for its dissemination are not necessarily adapted to the contexts of other regions of the world, including Africa. Indeed, many African-based peer-reviewed scholarly journals are unable to host their content online due to resource limitations and the digital divide (Agaba et al., 2004). In this article, we provide an overview of the most important initiatives and actors in the Open Science movement in Africa. We further identify three major challenges for Open Science on the African continent and offer perspectives for African researchers to actively contribute to the global scientific community and share knowledge to meet the challenges we all face.Item A Case for Open Science Hardware(2019-02-13) Havemann, JohannaPresentation about Open Science Hardware held at the Berlin Open Science - Reproducible Research - Meetup on Feb 06, 2019.Item Open Science in Kenya: Where are we?(2021-02-18) Mwangi, Kennedy; Mainye, Nyabuti; Ouso, Daniel; Kevin, Esoh; Muraya, Angela; Kamonde, Charles; Naitore, Careen; Pauline, Karega; Gilbert, Kibet; Musundi, Sebastian; Mutisya, Jennifer; Mwangi, Elizabeth; Mgawe, Cavin; Miruka, Silviane; Kibet, CalebAccording to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Open Science is the movement to make scientific research and data accessible to all. It has great potential for advancing science. At its core, it includes (but is not limited to) open access, open data, and open research. Some of the associated advantages are promoting collaboration, sharing, and reproducibility in research, and preventing the reinvention of the wheel, thus saving resources. As research becomes more globalized and its output grows exponentially, especially in data, the need for open scientific research practices is more evident — the future of modern science. This has resulted in a concerted global interest in open science uptake. Even so, barriers still exist. The formal training curriculum in most, if not all, universities in Kenya does not equip students with the knowledge and tools to subsequently practice open science in their research. Therefore, to work openly and collaboratively, there is a need for awareness and training in the use of open science tools. These have been neglected, especially in most developing countries, and remain barriers to the cause. Moreover, there is scanty research on the state of affairs regarding the practice and/or adoption of open science. Thus, we developed, through the OpenScienceKE framework, a model to narrow the gap. A sensitize-train-hack-collaborate model was applied in Nairobi, the economic and administrative capital of Kenya. Using the model, we sensitized through seminars, trained on the use of tools through workshops, applied the skills learned in training through hackathons to collaboratively answer the question on the state of open science in Kenya. While the former parts of the model had 20 - 50 participants, the latter part mainly involved participants with a bioinformatics background, leveraging their advanced computational skills. This model resulted in an open resource that researchers can use to publish as open access cost-effectively. Moreover, we observed a growing interest in open science practices in Kenya through literature search and data mining, and that lack of awareness and skills may still hinder the adoption and practice of open science. Furthermore, at the time of the analyses, we surprisingly found that out of the 20,069 papers downloaded from BioRXiv, only 18 had Kenyan authors, a majority of which are international (16) collaborations. This may suggest poor uptake of the use of preprints among Kenyan researchers. The findings in this study highlight the state of open science in Kenya and the challenges facing its adoption and practice while bringing forth possible areas for primary consideration in the campaign towards open science. It also proposes a model (sensitize-train-hack-collaborate model) that may be adopted by researchers, funders, and other proponents of open science to address some of the challenges faced in promoting its adoption in Kenya.Item No Better Time to Practice Open Science Than Now(2020-06-05) Akligoh, Harry SefogaThis is a guest speaker presentation given at the virtual Open Science Fellows Program 2020 in Berlin. The presentation captures the speakers perspectives on Open Science where he related it to the story of William Kamkwamba from Malawi, his journey through Open Science and Projects and Initiatives that are making use of Open Science in overcoming the challenges of COVID-19 today.Item The Varying Openness of Digital Open Science Tools(2020-09-03) Bezuidenhout, Louise; Havemann, JohannaDigital tools that support Open Science practices play a key role in the seamless accumulation, archiving and dissemination of scholarly data, outcomes and conclusions. Despite their integration into Open Science practices, the providence and design of these digital tools are rarely explicitly scrutinized. This means that influential factors, such as the funding models of the parent organizations, their geographic location, and the dependency on digital infrastructures are rarely considered. Suggestions from literature and anecdotal evidence already draw attention to the impact of these factors, and raise the question of whether the Open Science ecosystem can realise the aspiration to become a truly “unlimited digital commons” in its current structure. In an online research approach, we compiled and analysed the geolocation, terms and conditions as well as funding models of 242 digital tools increasingly being used by researchers in various disciplines. Our findings indicate that design decisions and restrictions are biased towards researchers in North American and European scholarly communities. In order to make the future Open Science ecosystem inclusive and operable for researchers in all world regions including Africa, Latin America, Asia and Oceania, those should be actively included in design decision processes. Digital Open Science Tools carry the promise of enabling collaboration across disciplines, world regions and language groups through responsive design. We therefore encourage long term funding mechanisms and ethnically as well as culturally inclusive approaches serving local prerequisites and conditions to tool design and construction allowing a globally connected digital research infrastructure to evolve in a regionally balanced manner.Item Open Science Capacity Building in Africa(2022-05-12) Havemann, Jo; Bezuidenhout, Louise; Zimmer, Niklas; Owango, JoyList about Open Science Capacity Building stakeholders in Africa that were shared during the First meeting of the Working Group on Open Science Capacity Building hosted by UNESCO.Item Progress of Nigerian National Open Science Roadmap and Infrastructure Development(2023-06-14) Iyoha, OwenThis presentation was delivered at Open Repositories 2023 Conference as part of Panel 7: LIBSENSE Africa - Breaking down silos across infrastructures to improve the visibility of African research outputs.Item Open Access, Open Science, Open Data: Who Will Benefit? A User Profile(2017-11) Gfrerer, Margareth; Beyene, BerhanuItem The UNESCO Open Science Recommendation & Toolkit - A Focus on Africa(2024-02-01) Persic, AnaDr Ana Persic is Programme Specialist for Science Technology and Innovation Policies and Open Science at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. An ecologist by training with a Ph.D. in Ecotoxicology, Dr Ana Persic joined UNESCO in April 2006 in the framework of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere program within the Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences in Paris. She then served as a Science Specialist at the UNESCO Liaison Office in New York from 2011-2018. Her work relates to strengthening the science-policy interface and promoting science, technology, and innovation in implementing the United Nations 2030 agenda for sustainable development and sustainable development goals (SDGs). She coordinated the development of the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science and is currently working towards its implementation. Questions that were addressed during the session 1. What specific features of the UNESCO Open Science Recommendation make it particularly relevant and beneficial for the African research community, and how can they leverage it effectively? 2. Could you highlight a successful case or example where the UNESCO Open Science Recommendation has played a significant role in advancing open science practices within the African context? 3. In what ways does UNESCO collaborate with local stakeholders, including governments, institutions, and researchers, to promote the adoption and implementation of the Open Science Recommendation in Africa? 4. For those new to the concept of open science, what key resources or tools does the UNESCO Open Science Recommendation offer to guide African researchers in adopting more transparent and collaborative research practices?