Open access : challenges and barriers to African scholars
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Date
2009-01
Authors
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Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
The price of journals (referring here to e-journals as well as hard copies) has risen dramatically over the past three decades, to the point that they can hardly be afforded by academic libraries in rich countries such as the USA. This evidently has even worse implications for academic libraries in Africa, and most of Africa's scholarly community therefore remains marginalized in terms of access to the global body of knowledge. The introduction of the Internet, accompanied by the ability to digitize and manipulate information, has not only changed the knowledge and information landscape permanently, but also changed the publishing industry. It has, for the first time, become possible to reproduce and distribute information products and services at nearly zero marginal cost (Anderson, 2006). The only requirement is access to a computer, the Internet and relevant websites. This new model has led to the global Open Access (OA) movement, whose main aim is to distribute scholarly journals free of charge to its end users. For the first time, there is therefore a real opportunity for African scholars to gain, free of charge (or at least at a very affordable cost), access to digital scholarly journals and the scholarly works of others. The OA movement has, however, not led to the free flow of information on the African continent. While expectations have been raised, there are still many stumbling blocks prohibiting African scholars from fully participating in and benefiting from the OA movement. This paper will highlight some of these stumbling blocks, discussed within the moral framework of the right of access to information. The paper is structured in the following manner : First, the notion of OA will be discussed. Following this, I will elaborate on the right of access to information, thereby establishing the moral framework. The third and final part will address some of the challenges and obstacles facing African scholars regarding access to scholarly work via OA.
Description
Peer reviewed article published under Inkanyiso, Volume 1, Issue 1, Jan 2009, p. 22 - 26
Keywords
Open access, Online publishing, African Scholars, Information access, Information sharing
Citation
Brits, J., 2009. Open Access: Challenges and Barriers to African Scholars. Inkanyiso, 1(1), pp.22-27.