OPEN ACCESS PUBLISHING: VIEWS OF RESEARCHERS IN PUBLIC AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS IN ZAMBIA Davy Simumba Principal Agricultural Research Officer Zambia Agricultural Research Institute Chilanga, Zambia Justin Chisenga Information Management Specialist Food and Agriculture Organization Regional Office for Africa Accra, Ghana
31
Embed
Open Access publishing: views of researchers in public agricultural research institutions in Zambia
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
OPEN ACCESS PUBLISHING: VIEWS OF RESEARCHERS IN PUBLIC
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS IN ZAMBIA
Davy SimumbaPrincipal Agricultural Research OfficerZambia Agricultural Research Institute
Chilanga, Zambia
Justin ChisengaInformation Management Specialist
Food and Agriculture Organization Regional Office for AfricaAccra, Ghana
OUTLINE
• Introduction• Goal of the Survey• Methodology• Results• Discussion• Conclusion• Acknowledgements
Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia 2
INTRODUCTION
• Open Access is free and unrestricted online availability of scientific literature
• According to Suber (2007) Open Access removes “price barriers“ and “permission barriers” to “royalty-free literature” making them available with “minimal use restrictions”
• The basic principle of Open Access is the provision of barrier-free and cost-free access to research literature
3Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Primary Approaches to Open Access:
• Publishing articles in Open Access Journals (OAJ)
• Depositing copies of articles, post-print or pre-print manuscripts by the authors in Open Access Archives (OAA) or repositories, also called self-archiving
4Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Benefits associated with providing Open Access to research literature• Increased visibility, access and the impact
of papers in terms of citations• Improvement in the quality of research by
way of improved communication of research results
• Countries benefit because Open Access increases the impact of the research in which they invest public money
• Helps to bridge the content divide5Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Success of OA initiatives in Africa depends:• support of basic principles of OA• willingness to publish in OAJ
Access to local content• Libraries and documentation centres in most
research institutes do not have comprehensive collections of the documents generated by their researchers
Why? Preferences to keep copies of research in offices
6Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
GOAL OF THE SURVEY
To explore the views on Open Access publishing of researchers involved in agricultural sciences and technology with a view of establishing whether there is support for Open Access among the researchers in Zambia.
7Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Specific Objectives
To obtain information on researchers’:
• Experience in publishing • Awareness of Open Access • Views on the basic principle of Open
Access• Experience with publishing online• Future intentions to publish as Open
Access
8Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
METHODSSampling:Researchers in the following key public research/academic institutions, all located in Lusaka Province, were targeted for the survey:• Zambia Agricultural Research Institute
(ZARI)• National Institute for Scientific and
Industrial Research (NISIR)• University of Zambia - School of Agricultural
Sciences and School of Veterinary Medicine9Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Data Collection:• Experience in publishing, including
number of publications• Awareness of the Open Access and
publishers’ policies• Views on the basic principle of Open
Access• Experience with publishing online;• Future intentions to publish as Open
Access10Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Fact sheet:• A two page fact sheet on:
– Open Access Initiative– Strategies for Open Access, – Open Access publications– Advantages of Open Access– Some definitions, i.e. copyright license, institutional
repository, post-print, pre-print, grey literature, etc, related to Open Access
• Was provided to help participants not familiar with the Open Access and the associated terminologies.
11Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
12Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Distribution of Questionnaires:
Highest Academic Qualifications:
• 11 (27.5%) had doctorate degrees• 22 (55%) had masters degrees• 6 (15%) had bachelor degrees• One (2.5%) researcher did not indicate
13Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Experience in Research:
• Less than 5 years - 12 (30%) researchers • 5 years - 8 (20%) researchers• 11 years - 3 (7.5%) researchers• 16 years - 4 (10%) researchers• Above 20 years – 12(30%) researchers• one (2.5%) researcher did not indicate
14Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Funding for research activities:
• Government of Zambia - 23 (57.5%)• Donor agencies through arrangements
with the Government of Zambia – 3 (7.5%) • Donor agencies through arrangements
with their parent institutions - 8 (20%)• Private organizations - 5 (12.5%)• Other sources - 1 (2.5%)
15Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Radiation Processing, Environmental Protection and Food Science.
16Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Publishing Experience
• Journal articles - 21 (52.5%) respondents • Book - 9 (25.5%)• Chapters in books - 15 (37.5%)• Papers at conferences - 28 (70%)
17Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Types of Publications by Respondents
Number of Publications
Journal Articles Books
Chapters in Books
Conference Papers
0 19 researchers 31 25 12< 5 14 8 14 17
5 - 10 4 1 0 411 - 15 0 0 1 316 - 20 3 0 0 2
> 20 0 0 0 2
18Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Reasons for Publishing• The main reason for publishing outputs of
research for 23 (57%) of the researchers was to communicate with their peers
• 5 (12.5%) indicated that it was to advance their careers
• The same number each indicated that it was a requirement by their employers, and a requirement by the funders of their research
19Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Awareness of Open Access • At the time of the survey 21 (52.50%)
researchers indicated that they were not familiar with Open Access before their participation in the survey
• 15 (37.5%) had some knowledge about Open Access
• 4 (10%) researchers did not indicate whether they were familiar or not with Open Access before the survey.
20Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Publishers’ Policies Copyright Policies and Self-Archiving
Overall, 24 (60%) researchers out of the 40 respondents were not aware of such policies, and one (5%) did not indicate whether they were aware or not of the publishers’ policies on self-archiving.
21Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Support for Open Access Publishing
• Thirty-three (82.5%) researchers indicated that they supported the basic principle of Open Access, including the idea of providing Open Access to publications of research outputs in scholarly journals by agricultural research scientists in Zambia
• Seven (17.5%) researchers were not sure as to whether or not they would support Open Access to scientific literature.
22Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Support for Open Access Policies• Twenty-seven (67.5%) - favour a policy by their
institution• 31 (77.5%) - would favour a policy by the
Government of Zambia • 28 (70%) - would favour a policy by donor agencies
funding research • Three (7.5%) - would not support government
policies requiring the deposit of research publications in Open Access repositories
• Two (5%) each would not support institutional or donor agency policies.
23Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Experience with Online Publishing• Ten (25%) researchers - aware of some of their
publications being on the Internet• Six (15%) researchers had personally posted
some of their publications on the Internet• 7 (17.5%) indicated that they had in the past
given permission to requests to have their publications made accessible on the Internet
• Fifteen (37.5%) indicated that if asked, they would grant permission to have their publications made available on the Internet.
24Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Knowledge of Open Access Journals
• 19(47.5%) researchers had knowledge of some Open Access journals in their fields of specialization or areas of research
• 21 (52.5%) had no knowledge of Open Access journals in which they could publish their research.
25Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Researchers willing to deposit full-text copies of their articles in an institutional repository
• Institutional Repository 14 (35%)• Any Repository 14 (35%)• Personal Website 7 (17.5%)• Institutional Website 22 (55%)
26Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
Researchers willingness to deposit or publish full-text copies of any of their
grey literature for Open Access by users over the Internet
• Institutional Repository 15 (37.5%)• Any Repository 9 (22.5%)• Personal Website 6 (15%)• Institutional Website 19 (47.5%)
27Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
CONCLUSION• A large number of the respondents supported
the basic principle of Open Access• For the majority Open Access would ensure
that their research literature is visible and accessible to a large audience
• Most would support policies by their institutions, the Government and the donor agencies funding research in the country to improve access to agricultural scientific and technical literature.
28Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
• However, making grey literature documents available in institutional repositories or on personal websites or institutional websites received very little support.
• This is a matter for concern considering that much of the agricultural research literature in Zambia, like in most countries in Africa, is available largely in form of grey literature.
29Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Special thanks to the following for assistance indistribution and collection of questionnaires:
• Ms. Janevive Namangala (Librarian - ZARI)• Ms. Christine Kanyengo (Librarian - Vet UNZA)• Mr. Bernard Chisenga (Librarian - NISIR Airport)• Mrs. Prudence Bwalya (Assistant Librarian –
NISIR, Chilanga)30Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia