Through an engaging webinar series, we explore with you the transformative impact of Open Science practices on the discoverability of African research. We delve into the significance of Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) and how they facilitate interoperability across digital services presented here.
Join us on this transformative journey to amplify the visibility of African research and foster a more interconnected and efficient scholarly ecosystem. Let’s pave the way for a future where African contributions are prominently featured and celebrated globally.
Upcoming webinar sessions
- date tbc: Preprint servers and journals: Rivals or allies?
- date tbc: Artificial Intelligence in Scholarly Writing and Publishing in Africa
- date tbc: PKP OJS – an open-source scholarly publishing system for affordable, efficient, and equitable publishing in Africa.
Objectives and Target Audience
Designed for African researchers, librarians, journal editors, and research managers by providing valuable insights into the functionalities of digital scholarly tools and persistent identifiers. Our primary goals are to significantly enhance the discoverability of African research on a global scale and streamline scholarly workflows for increased efficiency.
Why Attend?
- Learn practical strategies for adopting digital scholarly tools and PIDs in your research workflows, for literature search, scholarly publishing, and effective research dissemination.
- Gain in-depth knowledge about the role of PIDs in scholarly communication.
- Contribute to the global visibility and impact of African research.
Key Focus Areas
- Open Science practices and progress across African research communities.
- Increasing discoverability of African research outcomes and accomplishments.
- Low- and no-cost scholarly publishing by harnessing Open Science and Open Access best practices and service providers.
- Responsible use and analysis of bibliometrics to increase the visibility and reputation of African research institutions.
- The significance of Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) and how they facilitate interoperability across digital services.
- Open Researcher and Contributor ID – ORCID: Understanding the role of ORCID in uniquely identifying and connecting individual researchers to their contributions, fostering collaboration and recognition.
- Research Organisation Registry – ROR: Exploring the significance of ROR in assigning PIDs to research institutions, contributing to a more structured and interconnected research landscape.
- Digital Object Identifier – DOI: Unraveling the benefits of DOIs in uniquely identifying and ensuring the persistent accessibility of diverse digital objects and scholarly outputs. DOIs are similar to Handles and Arks.
Watch the recordings
All past session recordings are available on YouTube, and the slides are archived in our repository at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/20.
Watch the session recordings
Look up the session slides
Previous webinar sessions
- Building a Trustworthy Research Environment: Challenges and Solutions to Predatory Publishing
Susan Veldsman, the Director of the Scholarly Publication Unit at the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), spoke on the challenges and solutions to predatory publishing and how we can build a trustworthy research environment. During her presentation, she gave an introduction to what predatory journals are, how predatory publishing challenges Open Science and… Read more: Building a Trustworthy Research Environment: Challenges and Solutions to Predatory Publishing - The Role of COAR in Advancing Open Access in Africa
The Executive Director of the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR), Kathleen Shearer, shared insights on how COAR supports open access to research in Africa and ways African researchers and institutions can make their work more visible worldwide. Watch the recording The slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1817 Speaker’s profile Kathleen Shearer Kathleen Shearer is the… Read more: The Role of COAR in Advancing Open Access in Africa - Enhancing Research Visibility in Africa: Leveraging DOAJ for Open Access Publishing
Ina Smith, the Planning Manager, Scholarly Publishing Unit, Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), & DOAJ Ambassador Southern Africa, gave an in-depth presentation on how African researchers and journals can increase their visibility and impact through DOAJ. Watch the recording The slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1704 Questions that were addressed during the session What… Read more: Enhancing Research Visibility in Africa: Leveraging DOAJ for Open Access Publishing - Empowering African Researchers: Building Data and Coding Skills with The Carpentries
Angelique Trusler, community manager at The Carpentries in Africa, shared insights on how researchers can start their data and coding skills journey. Attendees learned fundamental coding techniques that would help streamline their research workflow and the effective data management strategies to organize and analyze their data. Practical tips on using open-source tools to enhance research… Read more: Empowering African Researchers: Building Data and Coding Skills with The Carpentries - Exploring the Openness of Global Research Landscapes: The COKI Open Access Dashboard
The Curtin Open Knowledge Initiative (COKI) offers open access data, visualizations, and insights about global research systems, with a strong focus on equity and open knowledge. This session is part of the AfricArXiv Open Science Webinar Series for the Discoverability of African Research. Watch the recording The slides are available at https://africarxiv.ubuntunet.net/handle/1/1532 Questions that were… Read more: Exploring the Openness of Global Research Landscapes: The COKI Open Access Dashboard