African Open Science Platform

Background: Established in 2017, the initiative is hosted by the National Research Foundation. It has support from the South African Department of Science and Innovation and the International Science Council.

Mission: AOSP works to make sure African voices of research are heard on equal footing, and improve access to knowledge. It is a coordinating hub, aiming to create opportunities through collaboration and the development of shared open infrastructure and a central repository.

Community over Commercialization:

“For us in the Global South and in Africa, we want to have more control over the contribution that we make to the global body of knowledge. The current commercial publishing platforms control access and who contributes to the research ecosystem. This is also connected to how research is assessed. Imagine if we wake up tomorrow and universities say they will not assess research based on commercial publications metrics, then everybody contributes and the shape of that contribution will completely change. This is the change that we hope will drive research towards social impact.”

“A scientist has to pay roughly $2,000 to publish [with an APC] in an open access journal; the other ones are locked behind walls. Most African research grants are no more than $5,000, so scientists cannot afford such a thing. Public or open versus commercial, we really want to figure out how to do and move [publishing] into the ecosystem that benefits researchers more.”

“We are trying to move researchers to get people in the community to become familiar with an open repository, but the driving force in assessment is based on commercial publication creates a challenge. So, you may get community participation – but only after they publish.” “In the African context, open access is what is at the forefront of most people's minds. Because access to scientific information is very hard.

“If we don’t get the universities and government involved with open access and open science if we don't really steer this conversation properly, we will end up with inequitable models like APCs. We really need to be strong on the goal to have more equitable access in communities.”

-Nokuthula Mchunu, deputy director, African Open Science Platform