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Title Open Access scholarly communication in South Africa: a role for National Information Policy in the National System of Innovation
Full text http://hdl.handle.net/10760/5898
Date 2005
Author(s) De Beer, Jennifer A.
Abstract South African science shows a decline in its global competitiveness in that its scholarly publication rate has not kept pace with that of other countries, both developed and developing. This, together with a decline in publication rate especially among junior South African scholars, suggests a structural problem in the South African national system of innovation. A declining publication rate indicates a problem of knowledge diffusion for South Africa, and hints at a possible knowledge generation problem. This thesis limits itself to the dynamics of knowledge diffusion with specific reference to Open Access scholarly communication. Open Access scholarly communication is an overt intervention regarding knowledge diffusion. The marginalisation of science in and of developing countries, leading to a state of knowledge imperialism and knowledge dependence, is addressed, and it is argued that knowledge diffusion and generation are at the heart of long-term economic growth. This thesis has been structured around two core sections, a theoretical framework based in the literature, and empirical study. The central concepts of scholarly communication and Open Access, national information policy (NIP), and national system of innovation (NSI) are elaborated upon in the theoretical framework (Chapters 2 and 3). The empirical part of this study (Chapters 4 and 5) in turn consist of two parts. Both parts used the survey method, however the first part made use of a questionnaire instrument, and the second part made use of a structured record review. Both empirical studies were used to assess levels of activity and extent of adoption of Open Access within a defined South African scholarly community, one discipline-based, the other institution-based. The aims of this study were two-fold: to assess levels of awareness of and investment in Open Access modes of scholarly communication within defined scholarly communities; and to create a benchmark document of South Africa's involvement to date in various Open Access initiatives. The argument is made for the openness of scholarly systems, and furthermore that the disparate and uncoordinated nature of Open Access in South Africa needs a policy intervention. The policy intervention so identified would exist within an enabling policy environment and would be minimally disruptive to the South African science system. Said policy intervention would constitute a National Information Policy since it would address the storage, dissemination, and retrieval of scholarly research output. This thesis recommends the amendment of the current statutory reporting mechanism - used by scholars to report and obtain publication rate subsidies - which would require that scholars make their research available via an Open Access mode of scholarly communication, and moreover, would require scholars to report on having done so.
Subject(s) E. Publishing and legal issues::ED. Intellectual property: author's rights, ownership, copyright and copyleft; B. Information use and sociology of information::BF. Information policy
Language en
Relation application/pdf
Type of publication Thesis
Rights http://eprints.rclis.org/copyright/
Repository Italy - E-LIS
Added to C-A: 2011-08-09;16:00:04