Season 1 Ep 7 🎙️🎙️🎙️

Why Open Science Matters: Perspectives from an African Scholarly Communication Expert

Link to the full episode: https://www.tcc-africa.org/news-room  | Listen on Anchor FM

For many years, African libraries have been struggling to keep up with the rest of the world in terms of access to scientific information and resources. This has led to a situation where valuable research findings are often shelved and not shared with the wider scientific community, and libraries are forced to operate with limited resources, hindering their ability to provide quality services to their users. In this episode, we are joined by Mr. Lazarus Gallant Matizirofa, the Deputy Director of the Department of Library Services at the University of Pretoria, to discuss among other things, how African libraries are embracing open science to address the challenges of shelved research and poor library funding. Mr. Matizirofa is a true pioneer in the open scholarship community, working tirelessly to promote open-access publishing and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations.

Here are key things to listen out for:

1. Mr. Matizirofa’s early induction into academia and career progression into scholarly communication,
2. His pioneering work as the first Open Repositories manager at the University of Johannesburg and stewardship of the Institutional Repository Managers’ Forum in South Africa.

• His views on data and Intellectual property protection and governance

1. Addressing the skeptism of open science and open access practices in African Universities
2. Adoption of open science as a means of leveraging limited resources and promoting knowledge sharing, collaboration, and innovation.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Welcome to Mazungumzo – African Scholarly Conversations, a podcast that highlights the perspectives of various stakeholders in academia and research fields across Africa through open dialogue or ‘Mazungumzo’ on scholarly communication in Africa. We are joined by an expansive list of African policymakers, science communication specialists, innovators, and tertiary institution leads who contribute to this realm of science communication.

Joy Owango:

This week’s guest, is the Deputy Director, Department of Library Services, University of Pretoria, Mr. Lazarus Gallant Matizirofa. Lazarus is a member of the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) Next Generation Repositories Working Group. He was also a Technical Advisory Board member for the African Open Science Platform (AOSP) (2017-2019), and a member of the Steering Committee for the SA-EU Open Science Dialogue (2018-2019). Mr. Matizirofa was one of the pioneers of Open scholarship librarians who steered the formation of the Institutional Repository Managers’ Forum in South Africa in 2011, which led to the IRTALK. He also sits on the board of Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD), an international organisation that supports open access publishing and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations. This comes as a recognition of his commitment to open scholarship and open research visibility in South Africa and Africa. His research interests include Open Science, Digital Curation, Research Visibility, and Impact among others.

A warm welcome to the programme!

Lazarus Matizirofa:

Thank you

Joy Owango:

Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you became you became involved in scholarly communication?

Lazarus Matizirofa:

Yeah, my journey actually started quite early in my also my academic life when I was a postgraduate student at the University of Cape Town. While I was there, I was involved in information literacy training of postgraduate students, and also working in the Research Commons, which is sort of a lab where some students will come for help to learn about computer skills, information, literacies, etc. I think at that point, that’s when I understood what openness is all about. It was about, you know, sharing ideas openly, and impacting others to know certain things that others want to know. And from there, I decided then to start thinking about researching around, then it was open access. And when I finished my degree at University of Capetown (UCT), I was fortunately employed at the University of Johannesburg, as the first Open Repositories manager at that university. I had pioneered a digital Open Library System, which was going to or which is used to curate thesis, and any other research output that is generated within the university. And also, we started then to archive or follow up on research output. This would be you know, your form of journal articles, and book chapters, and then persuade the authors and also their publishers to archive their research output material in the repository. And I think that’s when I started to understand what open science was, then open access, and open repositories, what it was all about. I worked at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) for four years and I think I became one of the initial open repository managers in the country, and we started to steer up the user group or best practices group, which we’ll call today, IR Talk, where colleagues you know, share different perspectives on open access, open data, and also open repositories. And then immediately, I would say I was poached by the National Research Foundation (NRF), where I went further then to, you know, to work with all university libraries, in terms of how they, would implement open science, open repositories and open access issues. I was then also exposed to the greater global best practice on open science through the Confederation of Open Access Repositories, where the National Research Foundation was a member and Core Data, and also AOSP, which is more on, you know, academic publishing in open science, etc, and other international bodies as it were.

Joy Owango:

Why is open science important to you? And why would you argue is the Open Science movement instrumental in the development of the scientific community in Africa?

Lazarus Matizirofa:

Yeah, if I look at Africa, and my background, where I started my librarianship, which was in Zimbabwe, I think the hardest thing that most libraries have is getting the adequate resources or money, to subscribe to a lot of resources that are needed by researchers, and also to promote reading or research in those universities. You will find that most African countries, they are not well funded when it comes to libraries at universities. So librarians really struggle to get resources so that you adequately can support your research, researchers and students. So from that perspective, that’s when I really wanted to, you know, to understand what the open science, open access movement was all about. And through interaction with other global librarians in this area of research or study, or work, I then understood quickly that for Africa, we would need to adopt open science or open access, so that we can leverage the resources that are not adequately supported by our institutions, for example, thesis, is you would find most universities who have lots of thesis that are on the shelves, but then if they’re not digital, then they are not reachable by other would-be users. And also, open science as it were, it opens up the issue of controlling plagiarism, particularly with the postgraduate research thesis and even articles, because if you have not been exposed to what others have written, and you have not seen it, you may think what you’re writing is the first on earth, and therefore end up you know, plagiarizing other people’s ideas and your work becomes the second online.

Joy Owango:

I can see why there’s been a push for open science and how instrumental in the development of the scientific community in Africa. But even with this, and the fact that it’s gaining traction in the world, there is still some level of skepticism among African researchers and institutes within the research offices in Africa, so why do you think this happens? Why are institutional leaders skeptical about adopting open science mandates within the respective organizations?

Lazarus Matizirofa:

I think there is quite a number of issues that may cause this. Firstly, is knowledgeable about what open access it is. And not also understanding that there is they derive more benefits from open access or open science as it were and also the motivation to share may be lacking. Some researchers are selfish. So they think if they’re the only one writing in that particular topic, they don’t want anyone in anyone else to get exposure to what they’re writing, particularly when it comes to data, because that the you can share data and different papers can come out of that data. So, and also, I think it’s a question of incentives, when I talk of incentives, we are talking of infrastructure that needs to be there. And also lack of understanding between what is open and what is commercialized. Because, you know, it’s a tradition and most of our researchers have come through the traditional way of scholarship, which was, you know, more commodified and distributed through these gateways, which are controlled by monopolies and as such, they still believe in that. That’s why, you know, if someone says, I am googling an article, some researchers will say, No, why don’t you go to a database that is, accredited, and etc. But knowledge is knowledge, irregardless of what format or where it comes from. And I think that’s the belief that I have, in which most of our academics may fail to understand in terms of where we are going as Africa, that we need to share the little that we have, and expand on it. Our research is critical, also to penetrate the other continents. If it is not open access, it might not be subscribed to, because it will always be taught as inferior, but open access leverages everything for everyone.

Joy Owango:

That is true. But do you see their concerns as valid, especially when it comes to the degree to which we can open, we can release data to the public.

Lazarus Matizirofa:

I wouldn’t say they have valid reasons to stop sharing data, its just misunderstanding on how the governance of you know these commodities, can be mapped up within the institutions. Because if you come up with a framework on how you are going to govern everything, there is likely no infringement on their rights as producers of that data, but to enable it to be shared as it were. I think it’s just lack of education and I think that’s where we need to put more emphasis that we can change the behaviour and mindset of some of our researchers that are not yet on the open access movement or open science trajectory.

Joy Owango:

What kind of awareness would you propose, especially when it comes to understanding more about what data can be released also, the aspect of intellectual property rights and and what is going to be released for the public and what cannot be released? What kind of training you think would be relevant for them, so that they can have a reassurance that it is for the benefit not only of the themselves as a researcher, but also for the institute, while at the same time retaining sovereignty of their data?

Lazarus Matizirofa:

Yeah, I think the starting point is, you know, particularly for librarians, to embark on, on walking the journey with the researchers in their research cycle. In other words, we should be part and parcel of how researchers are working, we have always done this by supporting them by giving them the literature that they used to research, but this time, we are saying we have another end, where we can work with you to understand the governance of research data. So, I would start with research data management training, as a core component of engaging with researchers and scientists and also young students on their masters or doctoral level for them to appreciate the principles of sharing data fairly and also for them to understand some of the critical components of sharing data, which is you know, your creative commons, the different licensing that one can give to their work when it’s online, etc. You can actually propose a different way your work is going to be attributed online so that the fears that research is, can be limited or minimize. So I would start with research data management training. And also just general digital transformation skills, as it were, because most people don’t know how to manage data, you will find people can lose data within a second when a laptop is stolen, etc. But there are now key areas where we can store data irregardless of which gadget I’m using, I could I could access my data on my cell phone, when I go somewhere. And when I’m in the office, I can open my data via my laptop or computer. It’s those areas that I think people need to be taken around transparency, the flexibility of, you know, sharing data, etc.

Joy Owango:

Okay. I think governance is very important. It’s something that has been has raised issues of concern regarding the degree to which you can open data. So yes, I support you in that when you said that, first of all, they need to be a lot of awareness done on the governance of data, and that the various ways in which you can protect your data, and then out of that know, to the degree to which you can release the same data. Thanks for that. So how can the challenges relating to, to the adoption of open science in Africa be mitigated, and especially what role should the Higher Education and Research Institution leads as well as the government’s play in ensuring that open science is institutionalized in the countries or in in our respective countries?

Lazarus Matizirofa:

Yeah, I think if we look at what has happened in South Africa is so quickly, I think, most universities went on to sign the Berlin Declaration on open research, I think, is a global principle, it could be one of the setting points for ensuring that open science can permeate our campuses or our research institutes, even also in in the private sector, where universities collaborate with the industry. So thereafter, I think people can then start of institutional policies to just govern what we have at a localized area, and then expanding it through a national policy. I think that’s what we’ve done here in South Africa, where, obviously, the libraries started with ensuring that their vice chancellors, signed the Berlin declaration to open access, and thereafter, they put policies. For example, here at the University of Pretoria we have enabling policies on open science, open access, and etcetera. So we have actually managed to put in place the infrastructure that can also support these initiatives, because without the infrastructure for open science to happen, it’s very difficult, because you need to have repositories both for data, your research output, we are talking of journal articles, and theses and other research outputs, etc, then you also need to have a faster bandwidth to enable you know, sharing of these resources online and dedicated staff members that actually understand the principles or the workflow of all the, I would say the gears of open science in a universe setup. So, once that is there, is very easy then to even convince governments to be part and parcel, because they will start as policymakers to also gain access to information which they will not have done in the past. I think any minister now can Google a thesis, any minister can Google a paper that was researched based at any university while they are in their office and interact with this, that publication. So the influence of academia becomes very strategic in terms of ensuring that the knowledge economy in a country is incredibly driven from universities to the public sector, as well as to the general public.

Joy Owango:

What are some of the lessons to be learned in your experience, especially since you’ve been part of amazing initiatives such as the African Open Science Platform (AOSP), and now, the network’s digital library of thesis and dissertations?

Lazarus Matizirofa:

Yeah, the greatest lesson that I’ve learned is interaction, and willing to collaborate, and also not to compete, but to share the little knowledge or resources people may have. I think I learned quite a lot when I was on the African Open Science Platform. I had colleagues from even Kenya, we had the professor from one of the universities who was our team leader, and with colleagues from Nigeria, and etc. But at the end of the day, because everyone was contributing something to the project, we managed to find each other to actually come up with this concept of the African Open Science Platform (AOSP), which I think is one of the best projects that I’ve participated. So far, I just hope and wish that it’s implementable at all country levels where we did have roadshows, etc, particularlyy to be taken by universities, because it’s very easy for universities to push for open science, because they are the creators and are also the major consumers of knowledge outputs as it were. So I think the other aspect is also for the executive to understand initiatives when they come particularly from, let’s say, libraries, and institutional stakeholder engagements with our IT colleagues, also helps, et cetera, and other things that can be helpful. Yeah, so I think the stakeholder engagement is very critical for things to happen particularly an institutional level, even at Inter University engagement, as well as other institutions that may be part of the pipeline for research. They may also be co opted, in South Africa, universities, we work with our stakeholders, our research institutes, and some of the, you know, the public institutions that may also be engaged with research. So that we steer along on one trajectory for open science.

Joy Owango:

In your capacity and experience in open science, how do you think early career researchers, university leaders, and even policymakers can get started on, engage and even commit to open science practices?

Lazarus Matizirofa:

Yeah, I think those are they the best people to skill, particularly for them to understand the whole Open Access framework. And I think that’s what we are doing here at the University of Pretoria, we actually work very well with early career colleagues, some of them may be your masters and doctoral students. And some of them could be the new academics who have joined the University. So we interact with them in terms of giving them the skills and also showing them this the tools that they can also utilize on which are freely available online. For example, if you have published a paper, it’s not the end that the paper must be in the repository, you must also create your Open Researcher tools, you must register with ORCID or ResearchGate. And link around all this Open Researcher tools such that your work is more visible, and it’s more reachable by various people across different online platforms. So those are the critical people because they’re the ones who actually want to build their careers, the established researchers, yes, it’s important but they have already achieved something. Sometimes we use them as models. If the freely available to work with us and etc like here at University of Pretoria, (UP) we do we have established researchers that really understand open science, and it has become part and parcel of our marketing strategy when we engage with faculties.

Joy Owango:

And how about policymakers? How do you feel you’d make them get started on and start engaging, to committing to the process of open science?

Lazarus Matizirofa:

I think with policymakers, it’s also what is critical is to provide them with evidence of what is happening on the ground, for example, I would say, at an institutional level, our policymakers will be the executive. So we need to demonstrate set to them, the impact of the research output, be it at an individual level, faculty level, and institutional level. So we have to demonstrate our input in terms of how the university becomes ranked, the ranking of the university or subjects or faculties in that perspective are measured, and etc, so that they see the return of investment in the project, it may not be financial, but in terms of demonstrating value, and, and etc. And the impact is more important from that perspective. That’s where we, we involve the policymakers to understand the that impact,

Joy Owango:

I think that is something that can be replicated in other institutions as well, when you showed the leadership, the return on investment on using open science practices, whether it is research, impact, research, visibility, and often sometimes it does bring in if there will be elements of revenue generation if open science practices were used in the creation of innovations, which were in turn, commercialized. Okay, I like that. Now, what hope as we are winding up, what hope do you have for the future of open science and its advancement in Africa?

Lazarus Matizirofa:

I think there is greater hope, in terms of the inroads of open science in our institutions, particularly that, you know, when we ask students these days, what have you used to search literature, they will tell you, I’ve Googled, but then they forget that everything that are most of the content that is on Google, actually is curated somewhere in a institutional repository somewhere, or someone is linked a paper or a book or a book chapter, or a data set to an open platform somewhere. And I think that understanding is become clearer, particularly with the future researchers, either in the primary school because they rely more on digital knowledge database, etc. So the more we push content through those resources, and they’re able to identify with them, I think that’s how Africa will certainly be a continent where open science plays a bigger role, and is quite exciting. If you look at the penetration of digital platforms in Africa, and how they are used, I think, every village where I go to you will find young kids or they are on their phones, they may not be necessarily reading at that stage. But if they were to be taught that there is something that they can use, and utilize, they will definitely use to do their research. And I was actually excited when I went to Mozambique to establish a resource centre at a rural school. The moment we configured the Wi Fi, we taught the kids how to search information. And we even taught the teachers how they can also share this content with kids where Wi Fi is available so they could be doing classroom work outside the class itself as long as they are on their gadgets and answering questions. That’s how you get a young generation future researcher to engage with open science.

Joy Owango:

And you see open science being a major contributor to building the knowledge economy in Africa. Isn’t it?

Lazarus Matizirofa:

Yes, that is definite

Joy Owango:

Thank you so much for taking part in our interview. Have a lovely day!

Lazarus Matizirofa:

Thank you for inviting me I look forward to also hearing from others.

Outro

Thanks for joining us on today’s episode of Mazungumzo podcast. Be sure to subscribe and follow us on all our channels. For more updates and for candid stories by researchers, policymakers, higher education leaders, and innovators on their journeys. See you in our next episode.

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