Welcome to AfricArXiv
This initiative showcases UbuntuNet's commitment to fostering knowledge sharing, collaboration, and accessibility within the African research community. With AfricArxiv, researchers across the continent have a dedicated platform to disseminate their findings, making them accessible to a global audience. By facilitating open access to scholarly work, UbuntuNet Alliance plays a pivotal role in advancing the principles of open science, enhancing research visibility, and driving innovation across Africa.
Communities in AfricArxiv
Select a community to browse its collections.
- The general repository is open for individual submissions by researchers, librarians and research administrators.
- Showcase of project activities, presentations, and scholarly contributions curated by the AfricArXiv initiative.
- A Rapid Grant Fund to address research questions and implement science engagement activities associated with COVID-19
- An initiative to support the development of a harmonised quality assurance and accreditation system at institutional, national, regional and Pan-African continental level.
- Facilitating knowledge sharing and collaboration among institutions, researchers, and educators within the Ubuntunet Alliance network.
Recent Submissions
Interpreting access to the Dinaledi Subsystem by Homo naledi: redefining the “Chute” as a labyrinth
(2025-04-03) van Rooyen, Lambert; Berger, Lee; Hawks, John; Jinnah, Zubair
A large assemblage of fossils attributed to the hominin species Homo naledi was originally discovered in the remote and difficult-to-access Dinaledi Subsystem of the Rising Star cave system, South Africa. Entry into this section by scientists and explorers has always been through a narrow and complex fissure network that includes a substantial vertical descent. This area was named the “Chute” and was described and illustrated in simplified form as a ~12 m vertical passage that gives direct access from the entry point into the chamber itself. However, due to the very constrained nature of the fissure network, previous descriptions of this space have not been based on detailed survey. In this paper, we provide the first detailed survey data and accurate spatial descriptions of the area between the Dragon’s Back and the Dinaledi Subsystem, showing the full complexity of the horizontal and vertical fractures and fissures that comprise the network connecting these spaces. To reduce misconceptions, we have renamed this space the “Chute Labyrinth” to highlight its true form. While some changes have occurred in the last 335 ka, these did not change the access from the rest of the cave into the Dinaledi Subsystem. The new spatial data and re-description of the space contextualize how Homo naledi individuals physically entered the Dinaledi Chamber via the Chute Labyrinth into the chambers below to dispose of their dead.
FAIRsharing – a globally inclusive curated resource on data and metadata standards
(2023-10-04) Lister, Allyson
FAIRsharing is a curated resource on data and metadata standards, interrelated to databases and data policies, across all disciplines.
We will find out what documentation FAIRsharing holds for African research standards, databases, and more.
L’information scientifique dans le contexte du libre accès et de la science ouverte au Bénin
(IRD, CIRAD et ANSALB, 2022-10-27) Sagbohan, Joseph; Dossa, Yao Jacques
La préservation du patrimoine numérique scientifique dans les universités publiques au Bénin est un impératif pour les gouvernants de l’enseignement supérieur et de la recherche scientifique, des universités et des professionnels de l’information scientifique et technique (IST) eu égard aux diverses alertes et recommandations qui fusent de par le monde pour faire de la science ouverte et de l’accès ouvert un levier de partage et d’accès facilité à la documentation scientifique et aux données de recherche sans aucune barrière technologique et financière. L’étude entreprise dans ce cadre vise à faire un état des lieux des politiques et programmes mis en œuvre dans cette perspective, poser des diagnostics des pesanteurs institutionnelles afin de capitaliser dans un dépôt institutionnel numérique, l’ensemble des productions scientifiques issues des académies et des laboratoires des institutions publiques et universitaires au Bénin. Mais il est ahurissant de constater que malgré les tapages et agitations qui se font autour de la science ouverte et de l’accès ouvert qui d’ailleurs constituent une solution pour se soustraire du joug des éditeurs scientifiques, monopolistiques et prédateurs, rien de techniquement normatif et bibliothéconomique n’est encore entrepris si ce n’est que quelques amorces d’acte de volonté visant la création d’outils de gestion numérique de ce patrimoine qui, quand bien même aboutis, ne sont que des œuvres isolées qui ne couvrent qu’une infirme partie du patrimoine avec des moyens très limités et étriqués. Pour une prise de conscience des acteurs (gouvernants, universitaires et spécialistes) afin de profiter des avantages de la science ouverte et d’accès ouvert dont la visibilité scientifique des chercheurs, des universités et de l’éclosion d’un développement économique et social pour le Bénin, l’analyse conduite a exploré des perspectives, formulées sous forme de recommandations et plan de mise en œuvre.
Exploration of Climate Data and Temperature Forecasting using Machine Learning
(2024-05-11) Eman AlBalawi
In this short communication, a concept has been presented to model geographical data to predict future temperature of Tabuk, region. Machine learning has been applied to the weather station data to develop a prediction model. The preliminary results are promising and encouraging and are envisaging to further this research towards the determination of unknown temperature rise in the region. This is important to mention here, that the problem has been formulated as a Regression problem, NOT as a classification problem. Hence, applying Convolutional neural networks is not possible, due to the non-existence of classes or converting the temperature values to classes does not make any sense. Hence, this is defined as a regression problem which achieved encouraging desirable results.
Building a trustworthy research environment: Challenges and solutions to predatory publishing.
(2025-03-27) Veldsman, Susan