Putting African researchers at the centre of the publication process | Nelson Torto | AAS Open Research Blog

"As I travel to scientific institutions across Africa and the world, whether speaking with a well-established principal investigator at a top academic institution or a student at a small college, one theme invariably arises: more than experiments gone wrong, more than funding or lack thereof, more than still wondering if your visa will come through as you make your way to the airport, more than disagreeable department chairs, more than woes of travel delays passed at an airport snack bar, the number one frustration shared by scientists the world over is publishing.

The career of every scientist is dependent on their publication record. Yet everything about the process can be challenging: how long it takes to determine if work will be reviewed. The weeks, months and occasionally years that an article can be delayed –  buried within the editorial process. The sometimes-biased, gratuitous and/or conflicting nature of peer review reports that are more common when reviews are not transparent. The effort expected of researchers to contribute reviews altruistically that few will see and for which there is no public acknowledgement or credit. Facilitate a radically better way for our scientists to communicate their research

On top of these irritants, we are subject to the tyranny of the impact factor, a metric that values research based on where it was published rather than its worth within the research community. The impact factor was not designed to measure the quality of an individual research output and in fact is a demonstrably poor measure of article impact, yet has us serially chasing one journal after another, losing time and learning nothing in the process. After all, “impact” is not a fact but a projection: a promise of a promise, as we cannot know what will prove to be more or less relevant in the future, since we “don’t know what we don’t know.”

Indeed, the struggle to publish and the exasperation felt as a consequence of the dysfunctional traditional publishing ecosystem has ended many a promising career in science and discouraged unquantifiable others from ever pursuing it in the first place. What an opportunity for change!

For these reasons, when I arrived to take the helm of the African Academy of Sciences last year, I was determined to push one of my predecessor’s priorities for the Academy: to facilitate a radically better way for our scientists to communicate their research. Doing any less risks that the very research that we fund and that our grantees dedicate their lives and careers to produce, will never benefit society – indeed, will never see the light of day. Thus, I am delighted that this determination has resulted in the launch of AAS Open Research. The platform represents the cutting edge of science communication by offering the option to communicate research in a manner that is immediate and accessible; offers transparent peer review with reviewer contributions clearly documented, and infinite opportunity for revision...."

https://aasopenresearch.org/for-authors/article-guidelines/research-articles