Open access publisher BioMed Central, UK, has announced that videos, slideshows and photos from the Open Access Africa 2010 conference are now available online. The conference, held late last year in Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya, was hosted by BioMed Central, in conjunction with Computer Aid International. The event brought together a diverse panel of speakers to discuss open access publishing in an African context.
It has been observed that despite the vast population, just 0.7 percent of all research findings come from Sub-Saharan Africa. As a whole, the continent's domestic scientific research is under-represented in the International Indexes of Scientific Output. Some of the main barriers Africa faces are the limited number of local high-impact journals and the minimal resources available to cover the article processing charges (APC) for authors looking to publish their work. This is an issue that BioMed Central will addresses with its waiver fund, a policy that allows over 90 low-income countries to publish high-quality research for free.
Open access journals allow free, unrestricted, online access to scientific research and hold many benefits for the developing world. The Open Access Africa 2010 conference looked to address the implementation of access to academic research resources and to promote and discuss the benefits and implications of open access research in this context.
The success of Open Access Africa 2010 will lead to a follow up event which will be organised for the latter part of this year.
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