National Open Science Roadmaps
The UNESCO Open Science Partnership offers a strategic opportunity to advance open science in Africa by putting this on the agenda of national governments. We believe that the most effective approach to implementing open science is working at the national level, bringing together major stakeholders from a given country to develop and execute a national action plan for open science. Open science requires the development of several aspects concurrently:
- Policies (which act as levers and incentives for researchers to practise open science)
- Infrastructure (to support the implementation of open science and sovereignty of national research outputs)
- Capacity (people to help provide guidance, run the infrastructure, etc.).
LIBSENSE works with several African countries committed to advancing open science policies, infrastructures and services to develop national Open Science Roadmaps that can then be adapted to other countries. These include Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda. In Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda, the NRENs and Library Consortia are in advanced discussions towards National Open Science Shared Repository and Publishing Platforms.
Policies
Open Science policies spell out the strategies and actions to promote the principles and practises of open science in a jurisdiction. These are contextual at the national level, shaped by local dynamics and nuances, including the cultural perception, political will or commitment to support open science and the general maturity level of the country's research, science and innovation ecosystem.
LIBSENSE provides a template for developing a national open science policy or contributing open science elements to an existing policy as a key step towards a national action plan.
Infrastructure
Open Science requires open infrastructures supporting the research community in sharing their publications, data and software. LIBSENSE works with African countries to leverage NRENs where they exist in the development and long-term sustainability of such open infrastructures and promotes shared national platforms.
LIBSENSE also fosters closer collaboration with local funding agencies, government frameworks and international agencies required to deploy and maintain these infrastructures.
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