Category Archives: oa.ethiopia

EIFL support energizes Ethiopia OA journals sector | EIFL

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“With support from EIFL, Addis Ababa University Libraries (AAUL) has increased access to and visibility of research from academic institutions across Ethiopia by upgrading the national open access publishing platform, Ethiopian Journals Online (EJOL), and adding 21 new journals from 10 institutions to the platform. 

As part of the ‘Enhancing Ethiopian Journals Online’ project, AAUL has improved the look and feel of EJOL, with customized pages for each journal, including updated journal profiles and useful information for authors and reviewers (editorial policies, author guidelines, reviewer guidelines). 

By configuring editorial workflows, the project has made the platform more efficient, and integration of DOIs has made journals and articles easier to locate. 

The project team also provided training for librarians, journal editors and editorial staff to familiarize them with the upgraded journals platform and its new functionalities. 

In addition, 20 journal editors took part in workshops on the use of the publishing software, Open Journal Systems (OJS), and  the eligibility standards and criteria required for indexing in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).  Journal editors also received journal policy templates.”

The National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia – Technical, Policy and Governance Aspects | National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia

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“FAIR principles compliant digital repositories are deemed key enablers of Open Science. The National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia (NADRE) is the deposit service indicated in the National Open Access Policy of Ethiopia for Higher Education and is meant to provide researchers, lecturers, students as well as stakeholders from outside of the academic world access to all research published by Ethiopian universities and research institutions.

In this presentation, given at a Virtual Meeting of the Open Repositories Conference (OR2020), we discuss the three intertwined aspects of the NADRE: (i) the policy, (ii) the governance and leadership, and (iii) the underlying standard-based technologies.

Concerning (i), we show the importance of the Ethiopian Ministry of Science and Higher Education’s commitment to introduce and establish the policy.

Concerning (ii), we show the systems, structures, concepts, rights and accountabilities for NADRE related processes in order to bring the NADRE alive and to work towards sustainability at the individual university level. 

Concerning (iii), we show the functionalities of the latest NADRE release and discuss the opportunities for other organizations in Africa and elsewhere to profit from the reuse and customization of the NADRE for their Open Science compliant digital repositories….”

Ethiopia adopts a national open access policy | EIFL

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“The new national open access policy adopted by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Ethiopia (MOSHE) will transform research and education in our country. The policy comes into effect immediately. It mandates open access to all published articles, theses, dissertations and data resulting from publicly-funded research conducted by staff and students at universities that are run by the Ministry – that is over 47 universities located across Ethiopia.

In addition to mandating open access to publications and data, the new policy encourages open science practices by including ‘openness’ as one of the criteria for assessment and evaluation of research proposals. All researchers who receive public funding must submit their Data Management Plans to research offices and to university libraries for approval, to confirm that data will be handled according to international FAIR data principles. (FAIR data are data that meet standards of Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusabililty.)…”

Ethiopia adopts a national open access policy | EIFL

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“The new national open access policy adopted by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Ethiopia (MOSHE) will transform research and education in our country. The policy comes into effect immediately. It mandates open access to all published articles, theses, dissertations and data resulting from publicly-funded research conducted by staff and students at universities that are run by the Ministry – that is over 47 universities located across Ethiopia.

In addition to mandating open access to publications and data, the new policy encourages open science practices by including ‘openness’ as one of the criteria for assessment and evaluation of research proposals. All researchers who receive public funding must submit their Data Management Plans to research offices and to university libraries for approval, to confirm that data will be handled according to international FAIR data principles. (FAIR data are data that meet standards of Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusabililty.)…”

Assessing the Landscape of Open Access to Scholarly Publications in Ethiopia – A Consultative Workshop | Ethiopian Academy of Sciences (EAS)

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“EAS, in collaboration with Education Strategy Center and the Ethiopian Education and Research Network, organized a consultative workshop on ‘Assessing the Landscape of Open Access to Scholarly Publications in Ethiopia’. The Workshop, which was held on 04 August 2017, brought together key stakeholders to explore the status of open access publishing in Ethiopia with a view to inspiring a collaborative action towards creating/maintaining a sustainable open access platform.

Open access platforms that center Ethiopians can be valuable in spotlighting and promoting scholarship among Ethiopians and making scientific knowledge accessible to the public. Prof. Masresha Fetene, Executive Director of EAS, noted that despite the increasing consensus on the benefits of open access, Ethiopia has yet to fully tap into the global open access movement. Prof. Masresha further noted that while various institutions in Ethiopia have open access initiatives, most efforts remain fragmented. Therefore, assessing the landscape of open access publications in consultation with a wide-range of stakeholders is a critical step in identifying what has been done so far in Ethiopia, the challenges under and promoting an efficient and collaborative approach towards creating and sustaining an open access platform.”

IFLA response to the Financing for Development “Addis Ababa Action Agenda”

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“Specifically, we commend the United Nations for recommending a platform that will provide open access to research: “The online platform will facilitate access to information, knowledge and experience, as well as best practices and lessons learned, on science, technology and innovation facilitation initiatives and policies. The online platform will also facilitate the dissemination of relevant open access scientific publications generated worldwide.” …”