Events, Partnership Programme / By Harold Bowa
On August 20th, 2025, UbuntuNet Alliance invited librarians and journal editors across Eastern and Southern Africa to an insightful webinar titled “Crossref Services for Librarians and Journal Editors.” This session was part of the Alliance’s strategic partnership with Crossref under its growing Partnership Programme, aimed at empowering the research and education community with cutting-edge tools and services that enhance the visibility, accessibility, and impact of scholarly content. This webinar built up to Crossref’s presence at the UbuntuNet-Connect 2025 conference, where they were bronze sponsors.
View the presentation slides: https://doi.org/10.60763/africarxiv/4039
Watch the Recording
The 1-hour session introduced participants to the essential services offered by Crossref, a leading global organization committed to making research outputs easy to find, cite, link, and assess. Whether you are looking to streamline metadata management or understand how to make your journal more discoverable, explore this webinar and get actionable insights.
Key topics included:
- Who Crossref is and what they do
- The importance and value of metadata in content discovery
- The Global Equitable Membership (GEM) program
- How to set up an independent Crossref membership
- Additional services and tools available to members
Meet the Presenters
Johanssen Obanda
Community Engagement Specialist, Crossref
Johanssen joined Crossref in 2023 and is dedicated to supporting outreach efforts through the global network of Crossref Ambassadors. He is passionate about fostering inclusivity within the research ecosystem, ensuring equitable access to scientific knowledge for researchers worldwide. With a background in social entrepreneurship and science communication, Johanssen brings a wealth of insight and commitment to advancing open and connected research.
Mokheseng Richard Buti
Portfolio Manager, Taylor & Francis
Mokheseng is a distinguished publishing professional with over seven years of experience managing co-publishing partnerships and championing African research output. Known for his advocacy in curating credible and impactful research, he has earned accolades for his contribution to scholarly communication on the continent. Mokheseng’s work emphasizes the importance of knowledge-sharing in transforming societies and amplifying African scholarly voices.
This webinar was designed to empower the key stewards of scholarly publishing, librarians and journal editors, with tools and knowledge that enable them to better serve their institutions and communities. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn, engage, and take your journal operations to the next level.
Watch: Crossref – Enabling African research item discoverability through the Research Nexus