Comments on: Open Access in Africa http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/open-access-in-africa.html Science Blog from Freelance Science Writer David Bradley Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:14:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: David Bradley http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/open-access-in-africa.html/comment-page-1#comment-577790 David Bradley Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:39:22 +0000 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/?p=2543#comment-577790 Inderscience have now made the paper cited in this post available for <a href="http://www.inderscience.com/www/pdf/ijtmv45n12_oainafrica.pdf" rel="nofollow">free</a> Inderscience have now made the paper cited in this post available for free

]]> By: Lai Bello http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/open-access-in-africa.html/comment-page-1#comment-569382 Lai Bello Mon, 27 Oct 2008 07:15:25 +0000 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/?p=2543#comment-569382 I feel the authors were not only thinking of the several thousands of journals that are not free, but in the real sense of it : How many African Journals do we have online? With very few of the journals been online accessibility and visbiltiy is greatly diminished. Technology wise, the smartphones may not be an answer to Internet access because the cost of acquiring one could still be prohibitive for the average African Scholar and more so, having the hardware does not guarantee Internet access. Internet Service Provision is more of the problem than the hardware I suppose. I feel the authors were not only thinking of the several thousands of journals that are not free, but in the real sense of it : How many African Journals do we have online? With very few of the journals been online accessibility and visbiltiy is greatly diminished.
Technology wise, the smartphones may not be an answer to Internet access because the cost of acquiring one could still be prohibitive for the average African Scholar and more so, having the hardware does not guarantee Internet access. Internet Service Provision is more of the problem than the hardware I suppose.

]]> By: David Bradley http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/open-access-in-africa.html/comment-page-1#comment-567624 David Bradley Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:08:19 +0000 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/?p=2543#comment-567624 Yes, your right Joerg, the authors of the paper, Nwagwu and Ahmed, don't seem to mention that, but I guess they're thinking of the tens of thousands of other journals that are not free...I shall ask them to comment. Yes, your right Joerg, the authors of the paper, Nwagwu and Ahmed, don’t seem to mention that, but I guess they’re thinking of the tens of thousands of other journals that are not free…I shall ask them to comment.

]]> By: Joerg Heber http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/open-access-in-africa.html/comment-page-1#comment-567562 Joerg Heber Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:25:43 +0000 http://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/?p=2543#comment-567562 Please note that many publishers of journals actually provide free access to the scientific literature. This includes my own: http://www.nature.com/info/partners.html The same seems to be true for example for the UK Royal Society of Chemistry: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4760074.stm One of the hurdles mentioned in your blog may remain a problem though, and that is cheap and fast access to the internet. A lot of technologies are adapted now in Africa for use in the relatively more widespread mobile phones (online banking etc.), but unfortunately, I can't see this really working for scientific literature unless you go to larger smartphones. Please note that many publishers of journals actually provide free access to the scientific literature. This includes my own: http://www.nature.com/info/partners.html
The same seems to be true for example for the UK Royal Society of Chemistry: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4760074.stm

One of the hurdles mentioned in your blog may remain a problem though, and that is cheap and fast access to the internet. A lot of technologies are adapted now in Africa for use in the relatively more widespread mobile phones (online banking etc.), but unfortunately, I can’t see this really working for scientific literature unless you go to larger smartphones.

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