How Accessible are Journal Articles on Education Written by Sub-Saharan Africa-based Researchers?

Abstract

This article investigates the extent to which education publications authored by researchers based in sub-Saharan Africa are published as open access (OA). We draw on bibliometric analysis of 1,858 peer-reviewed articles over the period 2010‒18, together with interviews with 31 academics based in the region. Overall, we find a steady increase in OA publishing in the region over this period, although the proportion of OA publications remains low. The study finds that: (1) open access articles by researchers in sub-Saharan Africa are concentrated in journals with a lower impact factor; and (2) authors in sub-Saharan Africa tend to publish in higher quality journals behind a paywall, rather than in lower quality journals that either have no or lower cost for open access.