Chris in his contribution asks, "Does anyone have views on the impact of Open Access on the decolonisation of health research?"
My response is that the impact of Open Access (OA) on decolonization of health research is mixed: on one hand, it has enabled international collaborations between the colonizing countries and the colonized ones, exposed the victims of colonization to modern research capacity of the colonisers, who had almost total monopoly of and controlled health research even on the disease conditions that are prevalent in the colonized countries. In addition, OA researchers in colonized countries have been exposed to modern internationally acceptable research methodology, and OA has opened access for them to publish local research results in high impact journals often domiciled in the colonizing countries. This later point enhances career opportunities for researchers in colonized countries because they receive more recognition and promotion for such publications, unlike if they publish in low impact local journals.
On the other hand, and crucially, using paywall hampers the full access of researchers in colonized countries, because merely having access to the abstract of papers does not allow the reaping of any of the advantages to health research mentioned above. In fact, paywall is counter productive for all, but more so for the researcher in the colony, because each time the researchers in the colonized countries read an article, whose full content is behind paywall, and they cannot afford the cost of the full content, they experience disappointment and varied levels of distress. Many publishers who own the sought-after high impact journals, inorder to allow Open Access already make money by charging authors/researchers (APC) and institutions for publishing their research (http://www.wired.com/story/ideas-joi-ito-academic-paywalls/) , which researchers and institutions in colonized countries cannot afford, further compounding the challenges posed by paywalls. To decolonise access to knowledge, there should be more Open Access, not paywalls.
Joseph Ana
Prof Joseph Ana
Lead Senior Fellow/ medical consultant.
Center for Clinical Governance Research & Patient Safety (ACCGR&PS) @ HRI GLOBAL
P: +234 (0) 8063600642
E: info@hri-global.org
8 Amaku Street, State Housing, Calabar, Nigeria.
www.hri-global.org
HIFA Profile: Joseph Ana is the Lead Senior Fellow/Medical Consultant at the Centre for Clinical Governance Research and Patient Safety in Calabar, Nigeria, established by HRI Global (former HRIWA). He is a member of the World Health Organisation’s Technical Advisory Group on Integrated Care in primary, emergency, operative, and critical care (TAG-IC2). As the Cross River State Commissioner for Health, he led the introduction of the Homegrown Quality Tool, the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance Programme, in Nigeria (2004-2008). For sustainability, he established the Department of Clinical Governance, Servicom & e-health in the Cross River State Ministry of Health, Nigeria. His main interest is in whole health sector and system strengthening in Lower, Low and Middle Income Countries (LLMICs). He has written six books on the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance programme, suitable for LLMICs, including the TOOLS for Implementation. He served as Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association’s Standing Committee on Clinical Governance (2012-2022), and he won the Nigeria Medical Association’s Award of Excellence on three consecutive occasions for the innovation. He served as Chairman, Quality & Performance, of the Technical Working Group for the implementation of the Nigeria Health Act 2014. He is member, National Tertiary Health Institutions Standards Committee of the Federal Ministry of Health. He is the pioneer Secretary General/Trustee-Director of the NMF (Nigerian Medical Forum) which took the BMJ to West Africa in 1995. Joseph is a member of the HIFA Steering Group and the HIFA working group on Community Health Workers. (http://www.hifa.org/support/members/joseph-0 http://www.hifa.org/people/steering-group). Email: info AT hri-global.org and jneana AT yahoo.co.uk
