Open access publishing and research dissemination in developing countries: Evolution, impact, problems and prospects

Abstract:  Radically transforming research communication through lifting of access, unrestricted access to research results via open access (OA) publishing, has research dissemination impact of multifaceted impact. The paper examines open access publishing and research dissemination in developing countries, by digging into the evolution of open access. It further looked into the impact of open access publishing, the problems associated with open access publishing and the prospect of open access publishing in developing countries. This paper concludes that OA has changed the landscape in research dissemination with great gain in research visibility, higher downloads, accelerates citation impact and allows global knowledge equity, hence benefiting Global South scholars and underrepresented groups. This paper recommends that individual researchers, organizations, universities, libraries, journals and publishers at local and regional, funders and policy makers should understand what open access publishing is all about. Where necessary, there should be fee-waiver routes amongst others.