User:Filippo Morsiani/Open access in Senegal

Open Access in Senegal; The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) – an independent pan-African research organisation primarily focusing on social sciences research in Africa, head-quartered in Dakar, Senegal – publish 11 Open Access journals. The most recent books published by CODESRIA are available in full-text in Open Access.

To date there are two Open Access repositories in Senegal: Biens Culturels Africains at l'IFAN and Bibliothèque SIST Sénégal.

Le Consortium des Bibliothèques de l’enseignement supérieur du Sénégal (COBESS) promotes Open Access in Senegal and together with EIFL has organized the first national Open Access workshop on February 9-10, 2010 at UCADII de l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar.

Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve SENEGAL (OMVS), Centre Régional de Documentation (CRD) and Association Sénégalaise des Bibliothécaires, Archivistes et Doacumentalistes have signed the Budapest Open Access Initiative – a major declaration in support of Open Access.

Researchers from Senegal publish articles in international Open Access journals, for example 110 articles have been published with BioMed Central – an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the Open Access publishing model – and among them there are highly accessed articles by researchers from District of Ndoffane, Ministry of Health; Faculty of Medicine and Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Cheikh Anta Diop; Fatick Medical Region, Fatick Health District; Helen Keller International; Institut de Recherche pour le Développement; Institut Pasteur de Dakar; Hôpital Aristide Le Dantec; Ministry of Health and Medical Prevention; NetMark Partnership; Academy for Educational Development; and President's Malaria Initiative.

134 articles have been published in Public Library of Science (PLoS) international Open Access journals: PLoS ONE, PLoS Genetics, PLoS Medicine and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases by researchers from Abass Ndao Hospital, Dakar; Belgium Technical Cooperation; Centre de Santé Roi Baudoin de Guediawaye; Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Le Dantec; Direction des Services Vétérinaires; Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy and Faculte des Sciences et Techniques, Universite Cheikh Anta DIOP de Dakar; Grand-Yoff Hospital, Dakar; Hôpital Aristide Le Dantec, Dakar; Hopital Fann; Institut d'Hygiène Sociale; Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement; Institut Pasteur de Dakar; Isra-Lnerv, Service de Parasitologie, Dakar-Hann; Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles, Laboratoire National d'Elevage et de Recherches Vétérinaires, Hann; Laboratoire d'Études et de Recherche en Statistique et Développement, UGB; Ministère de la Santé et de la Prévention Médicale; ONG ESPOIR Pour La Santé, Laboratoire de Recherches Médicales; Principal Hospital, Dakar; Programme National de lutte contre le Paludisme, Ministère de la Santé; Regional Office for Africa, Helen Keller International; Saint-Jean de Dieu Hospital, Thies; URMITE, UMR IRD; UR077-Paludologie Afro-tropicale.

Enabling Environment
Le Consortium des Bibliothèques de l’enseignement supérieur du Sénégal (COBESS) and EIFL organized the first National Workshop on Open Access (Atelier national sur l’Accès Ouvert aux publications scientifiques et techniques au Sénégal) on February 9-10, 2010 at UCADII de l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar. The participants shared their experiences and discussed collaborative projects to promote Open Access in Senegal. The seminar participants - research managers, researchers, librarians and ICT staff - produced the following recommendations and action list:
 * Information professionals have to keep raising awareness of all stakeholders on the benefits of Open Access; using all communications tools available;
 * Initiate Open Access repositories projects;
 * Raise awareness of researchers about Open Access publishing;
 * Advocate to the national policy makers (e.g. parliamentarians) to support Open Access policies;
 * Advocate nationally and internationally for the public availability of publicly funding research.

Potential Barriers
Lack of culture of sharing among researchers

Many researchers are still reluctant to share research results. They are unaware about Open Access benefits and awareness raising programmes are needed.

Lack of institutional support

Top level management in educational and research institutions are not interested in Open Access projects and do not support librarians launching pilot projects.

Lack of funding and poor ICT infrastructure

It is difficult to get new Open Access projects funded. And poor ICT infrastructure and low bandwidth inhibits new developments.

Major Projects/Initiatives
Biens culturels africains is an Open Access institutional repository of Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire Cheikh Anta Diop de l’Université. Current publications (research articles, journals, books and manuscripts), cultural heritage collections and audiovisual material are publicly available. The project is implemented in partnership with l’Université de Toulouse II-Le Mirail and with financial support from Fonds francophone des inforoutes and le Ministère français des affaires étrangères.

Bibliothèque SIST Sénégal provides Open Access to research publications of the Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles (ISRA), to theses, dissertations and other resources of the Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, theses and dissertations of the École Inter-États des Sciences et Médecine Vétérinaires de Dakar (EISMV), as well as to the articles of the Bulletin Réseau Érosion (ISSN: 1250-548X).

Digital libraries collections include research outputs from: The Africa Statistika is an Open Access journal that publishes applied and theoretical works about probabilities, statistics, operational research and financial mathematics. It is a bilingual journal (English and French).
 * Collection de la BUCAD: l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop Dakar
 * Collection de l’EISMV: l’Ecole Inter-Etats des Sciences et Médecine vétérinaire de Dakar.
 * Collection de l’IOS: l’Institut d’Odontolo-Stomatologie de l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop.
 * Collection de l’ISRA: l’Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles.
 * Collection de l’UGB: l’Université Gaston Berger de Saint-Louis.
 * Collection du PTCI: D.E.A. du Programme de troisième cycle interuniversitaire d’Economie de Dakar, de la Conférence des Institutions d’Enseignement et de Recherche Economiques et de Gestion en Afrique (CIEREA), Organisation Non Gouvernementale internationale basée à Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Plus d’informations.

Details of Key Organizations
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is head-quartered in Dakar, Senegal. It was established in 1973 as an independent pan-African research organisation primarily focusing on social sciences research in Africa. CODESRIA’s mission required the emergence of a pan-African community of researchers, the protection of their intellectual freedom and autonomy in performing their duties and the elimination of barriers regarding language, discipline, region, gender and generation. 11 journals published by CODESRIA are available in Open Access: as well as the most recent books.
 * Africa Development
 * Afrika Zamani
 * Identity, Culture and Politics
 * The African Anthropologist
 * African Sociological Review
 * African Journal of International Affairs
 * Africa Media Review
 * Journal of Higher Education in Africa

Consortium des Bibliothèques de l’Enseignement Supérieur du Sénégal (COBESS) includes 31 members. It was formed in July 2005 in Saint-Louis. COBESS organized the first National Open Access workshop in 2010 and will host a Digital Repositories training workshop in 2011. Contact person: Youssoupha Gueye, yougueye [at] yahoo.fr.

Open Science and Open Data Related Events
March 2016: Sci-GaIA–TANDEM– MAGIC Open Science Workshop

This workshop was organized through collaborations between WACREN (West and Central African Research and Education Network), the Association of African Universities and the European Commission (EC, DG CONNECT). The workshop presented an opportunity for participants to engage with leading African Scientists in discussions about the recent advances in Open Science services that have been developed for African Scientific Communities.