Open Access and Global South Scholars: Needs, Experiences, Barriers. Workshop Report | OBC Information Hub

by Judith Fathallah

On the 11th January 2024, the Open Book Collective (OBC) in collaboration with the Southern Women Academic Network (SWAN) co-organised an online workshop titled ‘Open Access and Global South Scholars: Needs, Experiences, Barriers’. The event was hosted by Nonhlanhla Dube (Lancaster University/SWAN), Joe Deville (Lancaster University/OBC) and Judith Fathallah (Coventry University/Lancaster University/OBC), with attendees including scholars from India, South America and across the African continent, opening a discussion around OA scholarly resources for and by women scholars from the Global South. We invited discussants to share their experiences in accessing books, articles and other resources (whether Open Access (OA) or closed), the barriers they have come up against, and how they perceive their needs for the future of their research and full and equitable participation in academia. Joe and Judith also shared some of the work they have been doing around OA book publishing as part of the recently completed Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs (COPIM) project and its ongoing successor Open Book Futures. 

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