Open Science Advocacy and Capacity Building for Leadership in African Higher Education Institutions

The Association for African Universities (AAU), the Public Library of Science (PLOS), and the Training Centre in Communication (TCC Africa) are pleased to share the results of the first two of four regional policy workshops that we are hosting with Presidents, Vice Chancellors, Rectors, Deputy Vice Chancellors, Directors of Research and Libraries in African Higher Education Institutions.

The workshops aimed to increase education and awareness on the benefits of Open Science, to support development and implementation of Open Science policies, and adoption of Open Science and Open Access practices and publishing in African Higher Education Institutions

Workshop programmes included both global and local perspectives on Open Science and its adoption and implementation in institutions, including support and speakers from UNESCO, DORA, University of Leiden, NRF and the African Open Science Platform.

After the workshops, we conducted surveys with attendees to understand progress towards workshop outcomes and potential next steps in the implementation of Open Science policies in universities.

Eastern Africa:

The University of Dar-es-salaam in Tanzania hosted the East African regional workshop, and we had over 150 participants in person and online. After the workshop 97.53% of the workshop respondents had a good understanding of Open Science, and 2.47% had a moderate understanding.

When asked about their plans to support Open Science mandates within their institutes, respondents highlighted they would work with/across institutional leadership in the following ways (percentages area approximate):

• 19.75% will encourage the integration of OA journals in the university’s journal selection strategy
• 19.75% will collaborate with library services to promote awareness on Open Science
• 18.52% will work on the adoption of professional incentives for academics who employ Open Science-based outputs
• 16.05% will work with the Department of Information, Communication, and Technology to assist researcher profiling with Open Software and Hardware
• 13.58% will work  with the Vice Chancellors’ Office  in supporting the process of  the adoption of Open Science in the  University with the objective of improving university rankings
• 12.35% will encourage the Directorate of  Research to implement the adoption of Open Data and  Open Evaluation in the academic  writing  process

Northern Africa:

The British University in Egypt hosted the North African regional workshop, attracting over 400 participants in person and online. Over 200 took part in the survey  and, after the workshop, 85.98% of participants had a better understanding of Open Science and  12.33% had a moderate comprehension.

When asked about their plans to support Open Science mandates within their institutes, respondents highlighted they would work with/across institutional leadership in the following ways (percentages are approximate:

• 20.49% will collaborate with library services to promote awareness on Open Science
• 19.41% will encourage the integration of OA journals in the university’s journal selection strategy
• 16.80% will work with the Department of Information, Communication, and Technology to assist researcher profiling with Open Software and Hardware
• 16.33% will encourage the Directorate of Research to implement the adoption of Open Data and  Open Evaluation in the academic  writing process
• 15.72% will work on the adoption of professional incentives for academics who employ Open Science-based outputs
• 11.25% will work  with the Vice Chancellors’ Office  in supporting the process of  the adoption of Open Science in the  University with the objective of improving university rankings

The workshops were successful in gathering the range of stakeholders necessary to implement change at an institutional level. They show that there is a growing understanding of Open Science among university leaders, with many keen to take proactive steps to support its adoption within their institutes. There is always more to do, and the results highlight the need for continued efforts to build capacity in this area. With more workshops planned across the continent this year, and further activities in development, we are excited to continue our progress towards Open Science adoption in African HE institutions.

To view the interactive cumulative results, please use the link here

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Public  Relations Team

Training Centre in Communication

(Through the School of Biological Sciences Linkage)

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