2008.05.12 - Strategic Approach to Open Access in Nigeria

PRESS RELEASE
May 12, 2008

International Workshop On Open Access Repositories: New Models For Scholarly Communication
28th - 29th April, 2008, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria

Eighty-nine participants – policy makers and ICT experts from university and research institutes, scholars and researchers, editors-in-chief of peer reviewed scientific and scholarly journals, university and systems librarians - from forty-five institutions met at the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria to discuss a strategic approach to open access (OA), important for academia and society at large. A Communiqué issued after the workshop endorsed the open access model and made a set of recommendations for government and stakeholders. In addition to formulating policies for implementing and sustaining open institutional repositories, participants updated their knowledge of copyright issues and open content licenses and developed strategies for the promotion and marketing of institutional repositories.

The knowledge-sharing event was co-organised by the Department of Library and Information Science at Ahmadu Bello University, eIFL.net and the Nigerian University Libraries Consortium (NULIB). “NULIB’s mandate is only half fulfilled if we cannot also provide access to Nigerian scholarly output. That is why we are so excited about this workshop, which, through its advocacy and training, will encourage and enable Nigerian universities and research institutes to organise their scholarly output into institutional repositories that, through open access, will be available to many both within and outside the country”, said Professor Doris O. Bozimo, Chairperson of NULIB in her opening remarks.

“Communicating scholarly information through open access repositories provide the added advantages of faster publishing opportunities, greater visibility for authors and institutions and cheaper access”, said Victoria Okojie, President of the Nigerian Library Association, referring to the agreed need for a national policy on open access and institutional repositories. “The Nigerian Library Association supports open access and commits to promoting it within the Nigerian community. We endorse open access for all journals, dissertations and conference proceedings in the LIS sector in Nigeria. We shall continue to provide open access to our conference papers and shall employ all legitimate means to encourage our members to archive their pre-prints and post-prints in open access, OAI-compliant archives. Open access repositories provide an excellent opportunity for researchers and librarians in Nigeria to gain leverage, and to leapfrog and become a part of an international community of researchers.”

David Prosser, Director of SPARC Europe commented, “In organising this exciting workshop, the Nigerian academic community has taken an important and timely step towards ensuring that the fruits of Nigerian research are made more widely visible, both within Nigeria and worldwide. By embracing open access and making a commitment to institutional repositories, the participants recognised the great benefits that can come from sharing scholarly resources. I look forward to working further with the participants to build on the success of the workshop.”

“The next step is for policy developments within individual universities, as well as in the research sector as a whole. It has been proven that policies mandating open access to publicly funded research enhance access to, and greater use of research findings, increase R&D efficiency, accelerate innovation and stimulate the economy”, said Iryna Kuchma, eIFL Open Access Program Manager.

Several open access initiatives are already underway in Nigeria. Kaduna State University and the University of Benin (Pharmacotherapy Group, Faculty of Pharmacy) both publish open access journals. Academic Journal, a Lagos-based publisher, currently has twenty OA journals and Bioline International hosts eleven OA titles from Nigeria. Ezra Shiloba Gbaje from Ahmadu Bello University runs the first pilot open access institutional repository in Nigeria, a second pilot will soon be launched by Emmanuel Babatunde Ajala of Kenneth Dike Library, University of Ibadan.

The workshop Communiqué recommended that the Federal Government of Nigeria develop a multi-level strategic plan of action and establish a National Coordinating Committee for open access journals and institutional repositories in Nigeria. Stakeholders are encouraged to source and to make available funding for open access and institutional repository projects.

“Challenges in realising the open access model in Nigeria include lack of awareness by stakeholders and lack of appropriate implementation policies, hence the need for this workshop”, said Ezra Shiloba Gbaje. “By bringing together stakeholders from different institutions and different parts of Nigeria, the workshop has sown the seed of the open access model. Hopefully, this seed when well nurtured will germinate and blossom for the benefit of Nigeria and the world at large.”

More information and presentations from the workshop are here: www.nulib.net

Further information:
Rima Kupryte, Director
Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL)
c/o ADN Kronos, Piazza Mastai 9
00153 Rome, Italy
Tel: +(39)(06)5807216/17
E-mail: rima.kupryte[at]eifl.net; info[at]eifl.net
www.eifl.net

Notes for Editors

eIFL.net
eIFL.net (www.eifl.net) is a not-for-profit organisation that supports and advocates for the wide availability of electronic resources by library users in transitional and developing countries. Its core activities are: (1) negotiating affordable subscriptions on a multi-country consortial basis; (2) supporting national library consortia; (3) maintaining a global knowledge sharing and capacity building network in related areas such as open access, intellectual property rights, open source software for libraries and the creation of institutional repositories of local content. The organization is a powerful network of 2,220 libraries in 47 transitioning and developing countries with a combined population of 800 million people.