User:Filippo Morsiani/Open access in Nigeria

Open access in Nigeria has two internationally visible open access repositories and 38 open access journals. Nigeria based researchers also publish in international open access journals.

Open access repositories and journals

Nigeria has about 138 Universities, either federal, state or private, and many research institutions involved in various research works and scholarly publishing. In the Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR), Nigeria has two globally visible repositories, one at the University of Jos and one at the Covenant University.

In the Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ) 38 open access journals from Nigeria are indexed. Among them African Journal of Reproductive Health – a multidisciplinary international journal published tri-annually by the Women's Health and Action Research Centre, The Annals of African Medicine published by the Annals of African Medicine Society and The Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research published by Pharmacotherapy Group, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin, among many others. Five open access journals published in Nigeria are indexed in the Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources (ROAD).

Nigeria based researchers

Researchers from Nigeria publish articles in international Open Access journals, for example 465 articles have been published with BioMed Central – an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the Open Access publishing model. 119 articles have been published in Public Library of Science (PLoS) Open Access journals: PLoS ONE, PLoS Medicine, PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

In January 2011, Covenant University adopted a policy that mandated all referred publications in journals, conferences and books to be deposited in the University repository. This applied to faculty and post-graduate students alike.

History

The first international workshop on open access entitled Repositories: New Models For Scholarly Communication was organized on 28–29 April 2008 at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria. 89 participants – policy makers and information and communications technology experts from university and research institutes, scholars and researchers, editors-in-chief of peer reviewed scientific and scholarly journals, university and systems librarians – from 45 institutions met to discuss the importance of open access initiatives to academia and society at large. A Communiqué issued after the workshop endorsed the open access model and made a set of recommendations for government and stakeholders. The ABU also hosted a follow-up event, the Second Open Access Initiative Workshop 2009 entitled Maximising Research Quality and Impact, that took place on 2 – 4 November 2009.

These knowledge-sharing events were co-organized by the Department of Library and Information Science at ABU, EIFL and the Nigerian University Libraries Consortium (NULIB). The key outputs from these two initiatives led to advocacy for universities to develop open access policies and for Nigerian researchers to embrace open access publishing.  As a result of this workshop two institutions, the University of Jos and the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, have deployed their institutional repositories. Following the workshops, fifteen open access repositories are listed in the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) and ten OA repositories in the Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR). These include DSpace at University of Jos, the University of Nigeria Nsukka repository and the Covenant University Repository.

The Budapest Open Access Initiative, a major declaration in support of open access publishing was signed by Ahmadu Bello University Press, the Federal College of Education Akoka, the Forestry Association of Nigeria, the Science Education Development Institute, the College of Medicine, the University of Ibadan, the Usmanu Danfodiyo University (Sokoto) and the Wilolud Journals.

The non-profit organisation Open Access Nigeria was established to advocate an end to pay walls so the public can have free and open access to the results of peer-reviewed scholarly research. Open Access Nigeria advocates and facilitates internet access in public and university libraries in furtherance of open access, open education and open data.

Potential Barriers

According to the UNESCO Global Open Access Portal, there are several barriers to open access in Nigeria:

• Low level of awareness of the potentials of Open Access amongst researchers and scholars, librarians, publishers/editors of scholarly journals and policy makers.
• Low level of awareness of the potentials of Open Access amongst organizations that sponsor research activities in Nigeria.
• Limited support from institution's leadership.
• Shortage of information and communication skilled professionals that can deploy and maintain Open Access repositories and journals.
• Intellectual Property Issues: Concerns of scholars and researchers of plagiarism.
• Copyright restrictions.
• Some researchers do not want to self-archive because of the fear of litigation from the journal publishers.
• Lack of national policy on Open Access.
• Limited follow-up activities and advocacy to drive sustainability of initiatives.

List of Publications

• Emojorho, D., Oghenetega Ivwighregweta & Onoriode, K. O. (1 April 2012) "Awareness of Open Access Scholarly Publication Among Lecturers in University of Benin, Benin City in Edo State, Nigeria"; published in Journal of Research in Education and Society; Volume 3, Number 1.
• 2012: "Open Access Publishing in SA and Nigeria" By Helen Chuma-Okoro posted on www.openair.org
• 2012: Open Access and Scholarly Publishing: "Opportunities and Challenges to Nigerian Researchers" by Oghenetega Ivwighreghweta et. al. This study examined the extent of researchers' appreciation of open access scholarly publishing. It discussed the opportunities and the benefits of open access to scholars worldwide. Challenges of OA were discussed and solutions suggested. Four research questions were raised. The population of this study was 140 lecturers from the University of Benin, Nigeria.
• 2011: "Open Access, Institutional Repositories, and Scholarly Publishing: The Role of Librarians in South Eastern Nigeria" by M.O Okoye & A.N Ejikeme. This study found that while 88.89% respondents to the study were aware of open access journals and their advantages, only 13.33% have published articles on open access journals.
• 2009: "Open Access Initiatives Adoption by Nigerian Academics" by Samuel C. Avemaria Utulu and Omolora Bolarinwa. This paper examines Nigerian academics' adoption of open access initiatives. The study was necessitated by the growing need to have the number of Nigerian scholarly publications increased on the internet and accessible to scholars around the world thorough the use of open access initiatives.
• "Open Access, Adult Education and Development in Nigeria" by Olutoyin Mejiuni.

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0 (license statement/permission). Text taken from Global Open Access Portal​, UNESCO. UNESCO. Nigeria Category:Nigeria