AfricArXiv contributes to the discoverability and impact assessment of African research.
By offering a free and open platform for disseminating research and providing bibliometric tools, we support research institutions in showcasing their work and analyzing its influence within the academic community and beyond.
- Researchers can upload preprints (pre-peer-reviewed manuscripts) and postprints (peer-reviewed manuscripts) before formal publication in a journal. Other accepted item types include posters, datasets, reports, audio/visual files, presentations, a.o.
- Supports submissions in multiple languages, catering to the diverse linguistic landscape of Africa.
- Each submission is assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), to make the work citable and traceable in academic literature.
- Uploaded research items are indexed in major academic databases, increasing the chances of them being discovered by researchers worldwide.
- Authors and institutions can view detailed metrics on the number of times their work has been downloaded and viewed.
- Research institutions can access aggregated bibliometric data to analyze the overall performance and impact of their researchers’ outputs.
- Institutions can benchmark their research impact against other institutions within Africa and globally to identify strengths and areas for improvement.
We support scholarly institutions in the following ways:
- Repository Harvesting – increases the reach of your repository
- Repository Mirroring – ensures uninterrupted accessibility to the institution’s scholarly content
- Repository Migration – shifts administrative and technical repository maintenance to UbuntuNet Alliance, while you can focus on content curation
- New Repository Setup – provides a robust, scalable platform to manage and share your institution’s research outputs effectively
Institutional Repository Harvesting
Repository harvesting involves collecting and indexing metadata from the institution’s research repository to be integrated into the AfricArXiv platform and other global research aggregators. This approach ensures that the university’s research outputs are discoverable and accessible worldwide, while the full-text content remains hosted on the university’s original repository.
This model is particularly beneficial for institutions looking to maximize the reach of their research repository with minimal adjustments to their existing systems.
Features and Benefits:
- Increased Discoverability. Metadata harvesting allows the university’s research outputs to be indexed by global platforms, search engines, and aggregators such as CORE, BASE, and OpenAIRE, making them easier to find for researchers and stakeholders.
- Metadata Integrity. AfricArXiv ensures that metadata from the university’s repository is standardized and compliant with international protocols (e.g., OAI-PMH), improving data quality and accessibility.
- Institutional Autonomy. The university retains full control over its repository and content while benefiting from the broader exposure that metadata harvesting provides.
- Scalability. Harvesting supports seamless integration with AfricArXiv without the need for duplicating or migrating full-text content, making it a scalable and non-intrusive solution for institutions of all sizes.
- Global Impact. By sharing metadata on AfricArXiv, the institution amplifies its global research impact while fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange.
Institutional Repository Mirroring
Repository mirroring involves creating a duplicate or “mirror” of the institution’s existing research repository on the AfricArXiv platform. This model ensures that the university’s research outputs are available both on the university’s repository and on AfricArXiv, increasing visibility and accessibility without altering the original repository.
Features and Benefits:
- Increased Visibility: By mirroring the repository on AfricArXiv, the university’s research outputs gain additional exposure to a global audience.
- Data Redundancy: Provides a backup of the university’s research data, ensuring preservation and continuity in case of any issues with the primary repository.
- Interoperability: Ensures seamless integration and synchronization between the university’s repository and AfricArXiv, keeping records up-to-date across both platforms.
- Enhanced Collaboration: Facilitates networking and collaboration opportunities by making the university’s research more discoverable by other researchers and institutions.
Institution Repository Migration
Repository migration involves transferring the entire content of the university’s existing research repository to the AfricArXiv platform. This model is suitable for institutions looking to transition to a new, robust repository infrastructure provided by AfricArXiv, offering enhanced features and broader visibility.
Features and Benefits
- Comprehensive Transition: Complete transfer of all research outputs, metadata, and records from the existing repository to AfricArXiv.
- Enhanced Infrastructure: Leverages AfricArXiv’s advanced repository infrastructure, ensuring better performance, security, and scalability.
- DOI Assignment: Provides DOIs for all migrated research outputs, ensuring persistent and citable records.
- Unified Platform: Centralizes the university’s research outputs on a single, highly-visible platform, simplifying management and discovery.
- Improved Analytics: Access to advanced analytics and reporting tools to monitor the impact and reach of the university’s research.
Building New Digital Repositories
For universities and research institutions that do not have an existing digital repository, AfricArXiv offers a service to build a new, custom digital repository from scratch. This model provides institutions with a robust, scalable platform to manage and share their research outputs effectively.
Features and Benefits
- Custom Repository Setup: Design and implement a digital repository tailored to the specific needs and requirements of the university.
- Enhanced Infrastructure: Leverages AfricArXiv’s advanced repository infrastructure, ensuring better performance, security, and scalability
- DOI Assignment: Automatically assign DOIs to all research outputs, ensuring persistent and citable records.
- Metadata Management: Comprehensive metadata support for better discovery and indexing.
- Enhanced Visibility: Increase the visibility and accessibility of the university’s research outputs on a global scale.
To get in touch with our team and discuss how we can support you, please email us at info@africarxiv.org or book a Zoom call via zcal.co/access2perspectives/africarxiv