"This paper reviews, critically, the discourse of research publication policy and the directives of the regional and global organisations that advise African countries with respect to their relevance to African scholarly communication. What emerges is a readiness to use the concepts and language of
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the public good, making claims for the power of technology to resolve issues of African development. However, when it comes to implementing scholarly publication policies, this vision of technological power and development-focused scientific output is undermined by a reversion to a conservative research culture that relies on competitive systems for valuing and accrediting scholarship, predicated upon the systems and values managed by powerful global commercial publishing consortia. The result is that the policies put in place to advance African research effectively act as an impediment to ambitions for a revival of a form of scholarship that could drive continental growth. While open access publishing models offer solutions to the marginalisation of African research, the paper argues that what is also needed is a re-evaluation of the values that underpin the recognition of scholarly publishing, to better align with the continent’s articulated research goals." (Abstract)
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Publishing and Alternative Licensing Models in Africa (PALM Africa) has been a two-country research programme conducted in South Africa and Uganda, using action research to explore the potential of open access and flexible and open intellectual property licences with the aim of enhancing the impact
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of African publishing.
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"The University of Cape Town (UCT) Press was established in 1994 and is one of four university presses currently operating in South Africa. The modern-day university press presents an interesting mix of challenges and conflicting agendas, and the OpeningScholarship project chose UCT Press as a subje
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ct for case study in the hope that an examination of the operations and dynamics of such a press would throw some light on the tensions inherent in the academic publishing exercise. It should be noted at the outset that UCT Press is unique among South African university presses in that it is owned by a private company – namely, Juta and Company Ltd. Private ownership of a university press which enjoys a close, synergistic relationship with its parent institution is not unique in the global academic context, but it does present interesting challenges in terms of commercial and non-commercial entities working side by side, often with very different markers of success." (Introduction)
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"Charts the planning and implementation of a digital publishing programme over a three-year period at the Human Sciences Research Council, a large South African social science research body. The case study is contextualised in the need to overcome the digital divide to give African scholars a real v
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oice in the global community. It deals with the challenges faced by African scholarly publishers and organizations wanting to use digital media to disseminate their research findings: the importance of strategic choices, finding the right mix of technologies, managing the technical and organizational process of getting a digital publishing programme up and running, and putting effective promotional and distribution strategies in place to ensure the success of a digital publishing programme. The case study also examines how applicable its findings are to other countries in Africa and, in particular, explores the limitations of digital dissemination in a South African context and identifies the ways in which a multi-pronged approach, using digital, print, e-mail and fax, can most effectively reach a wider market. It concludes that such a multi-pronged approach can be an effective way of ensuring the international reach of Africa scholarship." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 2069)
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"This report on copyright in the print industries sector was commissioned by the (South African) Department of Arts and Culture, through the Print Industries Cluster Council as part of a broader initiative to identify policy and development needs in the cultural industries. The report deals in parti
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cular with copyright as an aspect of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and the impact of these rights on growth and development in the print industries sector. It surveys the state of copyright as it relates to the written word and identifies ways in which copyright laws and practices in South Africa are aiding or inhibiting growth. Finally, it sets out a range of recommendations for further action that could contribute towards growth and development in the book and print industries sector." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 1768)
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