Open Access publishing: views of researchers in public agricultural research institutions in Zambia

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


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


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.


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


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.


RESULTS

Institution Number of researchers

Questionnaires

distributed

Questionnaires retuned

Response rates

ZARI 25 20 14 70%NISIR 30 20 10 50%UNZA 35 27 16 59%Totals 90 67 40 59.7%


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


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


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%)


Areas of Specialization:

• Agricultural Economics - 7 researchers• Soil Science - 6• Veterinary Medicine – 5• Crop Protection – 5• Agronomy – 3• Biotechnology - 3• Plant Breeding and Genetics – 3• One each: Horticulture, Plant Pathology,

Radiation Processing, Environmental Protection and Food Science.


Publishing Experience

• Journal articles - 21 (52.5%) respondents • Book - 9 (25.5%)• Chapters in books - 15 (37.5%)• Papers at conferences - 28 (70%)


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


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


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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%)


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%)


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.


• 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.


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

THANK YOU

31

Technology

Open Access publishing: views of researchers in public agricultural research institutions in Zambia