OA/IR Policy discussion at University of Nairobi, Kenya

On August 30 the University of Nairobi will host a one day workshop for the University Management Board on open access (OA) and OA institutional repositories. Objectives of the workshop: to enhance awareness on OA initiatives to maximize the visibility of research publications and improve the quality, impact and influence of research; to sensitize participants on the role of OA in reducing plagiarism; and to advocate for OA policy adoption. Participants will include the DVCs, Principals, Heads of Departments, Board of Postgraduate, Intellectual Property Coordinator, ICT Coordinator and other policy makers. Among the speakers: Iryna Kuchma, EIFL-OA Programme Manager; Prof Joseph Kiplang’at, Moi University; Brian Hole, Ubiquity Press; Prof Mary  Abukutsa, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology; Daniel Mutonga, Medical Students' Associations of Kenya (MSAKE) and University of Nairobi student; William J Nixon, Digital Library Development Manager, University of Glasgow Library; Rosemary Musula Otando and Agatha Njeri Kabugu, University of Nairobi Library, Kenya Libraries and Information Services Consortium (KLISC), and EIFL country coordinators.

This will be the first policy related event within EIFL funded project “Knowledge without boundaries: Advocacy campaign in Kenya for OA and institutional repositories”. The project activities include hosting meetings/workshops to advocate for OA policies to the top level managers/policy makers, librarians, researchers, postgraduate students, authors and editors. A team of local experts in DSpace repository software will be also visiting KLISC member institutions and assist them in installation, configuration, customization and population of their OA repositories. Project partners: KLISC, University of Nairobi, MSAKE and Kenya Education Network (KENET).

We are glad that Brian Hole, Ubiquity Press, will contribute to the University of Nairobi workshop. Ubiquity Press is a researcher-led, 100% open access publisher, operating on a low-cost, rapid publishing model. They enable open access not only to articles and books, but through our metajournals platform also to research data and software. Having begun publishing with a focus on the humanities, they are now expanding into all other fields as well, and an important focus area for the press is in supporting journals from smaller societies and developing countries. They are also involved in several research projects in the areas of incentivising and rewarding the sharing of research data, and improving its distribution. As researchers themselves, they are deeply concerned that publishing should be about achieving the widest possible dissemination and impact for academic work, with no barriers to participation. Only a truly open publishing model can be compatible with the principles of open scientific communication and the efficient and equitable advancement of human knowledge.

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