EIFL supported the creation of the Consortium des Bibliothèques Académiques du Congo (COBAC), and we have been working in partnership with COBAC and its member institutions since 2015.

In 2022, with EIFL’s support, Université Libre des Pays des Grands Lacs (ULPGL-Goma) adopted the first institutional open science policy in the country. Through COBAC, ULPGL-Goma also promoted the development of open science policies in other institutions in DRC.

Timeline

2015 - 2022

Activities

• Workshops to promote open science, targeting university administrators, faculty and libraries at COBAC member institutions
• Engaging leadership, faculty and librarians at ULPGL-Goma to develop an open science policy
• Setting up an open repository for ULPGL-Goma as an institutional repository on the shared repository, Zenodo
• Training faculty, researchers and IT staff at ULPGL-Goma to upload research to an open access repository

Achievements

• Creation of an open community for institutional research on Zenodo. The repository will host open access publications from the year 2000 onwards. 
• Adoption of the first institutional open science policy in DRC: In August 2022 ULPGL-Goma adopted the Charte de l’ULPGL pour la science ouverte. The policy -
  • mandates depositing research outputs in ULPGL-Goma’s repository on Zenodo. Deposit of publications is a required step in research reporting. 
  • encourages wide dissemination of research results by publishing in open access journals; supports social justice in knowledge creation and sharing, and nurtures a culture of research data management according to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable data). 
• Improved open access understanding and skills at universities and research institutions across the country - 
  • Raised awareness and deepened understanding of open science at 19 COBAC member institutions.
  • Trained staff at ULPGL-Goma in uploading research to the repository.