Africa Embraces Open Access | Open Science

"The development of Open Access in Africa has been discussed for a long time. The accompanying discussion followed two main directions: OA as a way for scientists from the continent and their research results to break into the scientific mainstream; and OA as a social and economic development factor, based on the assumption that free access to scientific output can act as an important stimulus. Many of the continent’s universities have become strongly interested in implementing Open Access practices. There are already a number of initiatives with the goal of promoting Open Access in Africa. One such initiative was announced yesterday by EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries). It has launched – as reported on its website – an Open Access program for three African countries: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda...  It is also worth mentioning that the University of Nairobi has recently introduced (in Dec 2012) its own policy on Open Access and launched a repository. Under the new policy, all members of the University community will be required to submit their scholarly output to the University of Nairobi Digital Repository... "