文章基本信息

标题：Library as Publisher: From an African Lens
本地全文：下载
作者：Reggie Raju ; Jeremiah Pietersen
期刊名称：Journal of Electronic Publishing
印刷版ISSN：1080-2711
电子版ISSN：1080-2711
出版年度：2017
卷号：20
期号：2
页码：1-9
DOI：10.3998/3336451.0020.203
出版社：University of Michigan Press
摘要：Africais trapped in two paradoxicalsituations. Thefirst is that the production ofresearch is dependent on access to research - African researchers have been hamstrung by limited access to relevantand authenticscholarly literatureto support the growth in their research output. It has been mooted that thesaviour is improved access to open content. This gives riseto thesecond paradox - open access removes thefinancial barriers to theend user. In this newparadigm, thecash-cowfor publishers is nowtheauthor viathe payment ofarticle processing charges (APCs). However, African researchers, in the main,cannotafford theseexorbitant APCs, limiting theircapacity to publish excellent research in leading international journals that haveanOApublishing option. Hence, it is incumbent on research intensiveinstitutions on the African continent to takethelead in sharing scholarly output to engenderand nurture aculture ofresearch at those African institutions thatare overwhelmed by lowresearch output. To support the dissemination oftrusted and relevantscholarly content, African libraries need to provide proactive‘library as publisher’ services. Theseservices must be delivered for nonprofit purposesand must be underpinned by ‘philanthropic-socialjustice’ principles. Some SouthAfrican academicinstitutions, viatheir libraries, havestepped-up to the plateto makescholarly freely contentaccessibleto both users and authors viasuite of diamond open access services. Thelibrary asa publisher must gain traction quickly asa mainstreamservice provided by the highereducation libraries in SouthAfrica. This paper willexaminethe newtrend oflibrary asa publisher froma developingworld perspective. The benefits for the provision of‘library as publisher’ serviceiscolossalfor development in the globalSouth.