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This paper is based on the findings of a study that evaluated the initiatives taken by East African
countries to embrace the open access movement. Specifically, the study analysed the position of
East African countries in disseminating open access literature in Africa and globally; determined
the contribution of each East African country to global open access literature; identified the type
of document as well as Open source software they used. Moreover, the study analysed the
subject content of OARs and identified the language for the archived items. The study first used
literature review to determine current status of open access in East Africa, then the Directory of
Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) were accessed to get the required data. The results
revealed that East African counties make only a miniscule contribution to Open Access literature
of about 0.022 percent of items found in global OARs and 1.2 percent by number of repositories.
The study concluded that East African countries with a slight exception of Kenya lag far behind
in open access literature. The study, therefore, recommends more efforts to be made by
individual East African countries to make necessary arrangements required to adopt and use OA
repositories to enhance free access to knowledge and information and, consequently, boost socioeconomic
development in the region. |
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