African Principles for Open Access in Scholarly Communication

We, the undersigned, declare to adhere to the following Principles for Open Access in Scholarly Communication in and about Africa:

1) Academic Research and knowledge from and about Africa should be freely available to all who wish to access, use or reuse it while at the same time being protected from misuse and misappropriation.

2) African scientists and scientists working on African topics and/or territory will make their research achievements including underlying datasets available in a digital Open Access repository or journal and an explicit Open Access license is applied.

3) African research output should be made available in the principle common language of the global science community as well as in one or more local African languages – at least in summary.

4) It is important to take into consideration in the discussions indigenous and traditional knowledge in its various forms.

5) It is necessary to respect the diverse dynamics of knowledge generation and circulation by discipline and geographical area.

6) It is necessary to recognise, respect and acknowledge the regional diversity of African scientific journals, institutional repositories and academic systems.

7) African Open Access policies and initiatives promote Open Scholarship, Open Source and Open Standards for interoperability purposes.

8) Multi-stakeholder mechanisms for collaboration and cooperation should be established to ensure equal participation across the African continent.

9) Economic investment in Open Access is consistent with its benefit to societies on the African continent – therefore institutions and governments in Africa provide the enabling environment, infrastructure and capacity building required to support Open Access

10) African Open Access stakeholders and actors keep up close dialogues with representatives from all world regions, namely Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania.

Anyone can sign below to endorse the above principles. We encourage endorsement primarily by African researchers and institutions but also encourage researchers and institutions working with African stakeholders and on African topics.

Anyone can Share and Adapt the principles while giving appropriate credit ‘African Principles for Open Access in Scholarly Communication as agreed upon by the signatories‘, provide a link to the principles, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. If you change or add to the text of the principles, please distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

To make suggestions for changes and additions to the African Principles do feel free to comment at the corresponding Google Doc or contact us at info@africarxiv.org.

African Principles for Open Access in Scholarly Communication

Sign this petition to adhere to the Principles for Open Access in Scholarly Communication in and about Africa:

1) Academic Research and knowledge from and about Africa should be freely available to all who wish to access, use or reuse it while at the same time being protected from misuse and misappropriation.

2) African scientists and scientists working on African topics and/or territory will make their research achievements including underlying datasets available in a digital Open Access repository or journal and an explicit Open Access licence is applied.

3) African research output should be made available in the principle common language of the global science community as well as in one or more local African languages – at least in summary.

4) It is important to take into consideration in the discussions indigenous and traditional knowledge in its various forms.

5) It is necessary to respect the different dynamics of knowledge generation and circulation of knowledge by discipline and geographical area.

6) It is necessary to recognise, respect and acknowledge the regional diversity of African scientific journals, institutional repositories and academic systems.

7) African Open Access policies and initiatives promote Open Scholarship, Open Source and Open Standards  for interoperability purposes.

8) Multi-stakeholder mechanisms for collaboration and cooperation should be established to ensure equal participation across the African continent.

9) Economic investment in Open Access is consistent with its benefit to societies on the African continent – therefore institutions and governments in Africa provide the enabling environment, infrastructure and capacity building required to support Open Access

10) African Open Access stakeholders and actors keep up close dialogues with representatives from all world regions, namely Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania.

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122 signatures

Latest Signatures

122	Kwesi Sewe		Oct 21, 2020
121	Houcemeddine Turki		Oct 18, 2020
120	Macsamuel Ugbaa		Oct 17, 2020
119	Johanssen Obanda		Oct 07, 2020
118	Atuha Peter		Sep 29, 2020
117	Morgan Hough		Aug 16, 2020
116	Abdeldjamil DEHAMNA	Signez cette pétition pour adhérer aux principes du libre accès à la communication savante en Afr...	Apr 16, 2020
115	Chokri Ben Romdhane		Mar 01, 2020
114	Susan Moenga		Feb 13, 2020
113	Martie van Deventer		Jan 27, 2020
112	Nathaniel Amedu		Jan 26, 2020
111	Teresa Minguez		Dec 27, 2019
110	Mohamed Yassine Amarouch		Dec 26, 2019
109	Nabil Ksibi		Dec 16, 2019
108	Kamel Belhamel		Dec 06, 2019
107	Manfredi La Manna		Dec 06, 2019
106	Mahmoud Ibrahim		Dec 05, 2019
105	Hisham Arafat Shehata		Nov 05, 2019
104	Laura Boykin		Oct 29, 2019
103	Daimi Houria		Oct 29, 2019
102	Jean Claude Makangara Cigolo		Oct 29, 2019
101	Hugues Abriel		Oct 29, 2019
100	Nicholas Outa		Oct 10, 2019
99	Leana Esterhuyse		Sep 25, 2019
98	Edmond Sanganyado		Sep 06, 2019
97	Joy Owango		Aug 28, 2019
96	Sarah Kibirige		Aug 18, 2019
95	Gabiyu Ojo Adigun		Aug 03, 2019
94	DeeAnn Reeder		Jul 28, 2019
93	Katwesige Wycliff		Jul 26, 2019
92	Kenneth Irenoa		Jul 26, 2019
91	Ya'qub Ebrahim		Jul 04, 2019
90	Sizwe Ngcobo		Jul 04, 2019
89	Hugh Shanahan		Jun 08, 2019
88	Felix Emeka Anyiam		Jun 03, 2019
87	Cornelle Scheltema-Van Wyk		May 30, 2019
86	Matseliso M.M.C. Moshoeshoe Chadzingwa		May 28, 2019
85	Julius Atlhopheng		May 27, 2019
84	Rebecca Kahn		May 25, 2019
83	Chiara Gandini		May 23, 2019
82	Masimba Hilary Makoni		May 22, 2019
81	Thembelihle Hwalima		May 22, 2019
80	Hlomphang Pangeti		May 22, 2019
79	Beyene Meressa		May 22, 2019
78	Jethron Akala		May 21, 2019
77	Lynn Woolfrey		May 21, 2019
76	Alice Kibombo		May 21, 2019
75	Haruna Hussein		May 21, 2019
74	Charlotte Yenbil		May 21, 2019
73	Kapil Sharma		May 21, 2019
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The African Principles for Open Access in Scholarly Communication are based on the following principles and guidelines:

Dakar Declaration on Open Access Publishing in Africa and the Global South (2016) | codesria.org/spip.php?article2595
Invest in Open Infrastructure | investinopen.org
FAIR Open Access Principles by the FAIR Open Access Alliance (FOAA) | fairopenaccess.org/the-fair-open-access-principles/
Scholarly Commons Principles | force11.org/scholarly-commons/principles
Vienna Principles | viennaprinciples.org
AmeliCA Principles and Values | amelica.org/en/index.php/principios-y-valores/
Jussieu Appell | jussieucall.org/jussieu-appell