Improving access to scholarly research in Africa: Open access initiatives

Abstract

For many scientists and medics, especially those in lower-income countries such as sub-Saharan Africa, access to the latest research can be limited and restricted. In this age of technology should anyone have to pay to access research published online? To aid both the economic development of developing countries and to ensure a complete scientific record, scholarly research must be made freely accessible - open access (OA) publishing provides free, immediate and permanent online access to the full text of an article, presenting researchers with easily accessible high-quality scientific resources essential to the rapid and efficient global communication of research findings. Various projects and initiatives aimed at improving the situation for the developing world are described in this article, including BioMed Central's 'Open Access Africa' initiative.