TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of open access on knowledge production, consumption and dissemination in Kenya’s higher education system
AU - Mwambari, David
AU - Ahmed Ali, Fatuma
AU - Barak, Christopher
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to CODESRIA for selecting David Mwambari for its Africa Diaspora Fellowship Program for Higher Education in Africa. The fellowship provided initial funding that allowed Mwambari to collaborate with Fatuma Ahmed Ali and Christopher Barak.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022/5/19
Y1 - 2022/5/19
N2 - Open access (OA) journal publishing is presented in the literature as both an opportunity for and a threat to academics, authors and higher education systems. Institutions with information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure have enabled their academics to freely retrieve accessible content in various disciplines, which in turn increases the rate and quality of publications from these institutions. Using semi-structured interviews with Kenyan faculty, students and librarians and with Kenyan and non-Kenyan publishers, as well as secondary sources, this article examines perspectives often overlooked in this debate. The paper concludes that while OA is considered an important initiative that could enhance knowledge production and consumption in Kenya, it nevertheless presents its own challenges, which should not be overlooked. OA is not a simple solution to individual and institutional challenges or systemic epistemic injustices, which lead to poor-quality knowledge circulating via some OA platforms and have the potential to dampen the global competitiveness of knowledge produced in Kenya and other countries in the Global South.
AB - Open access (OA) journal publishing is presented in the literature as both an opportunity for and a threat to academics, authors and higher education systems. Institutions with information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure have enabled their academics to freely retrieve accessible content in various disciplines, which in turn increases the rate and quality of publications from these institutions. Using semi-structured interviews with Kenyan faculty, students and librarians and with Kenyan and non-Kenyan publishers, as well as secondary sources, this article examines perspectives often overlooked in this debate. The paper concludes that while OA is considered an important initiative that could enhance knowledge production and consumption in Kenya, it nevertheless presents its own challenges, which should not be overlooked. OA is not a simple solution to individual and institutional challenges or systemic epistemic injustices, which lead to poor-quality knowledge circulating via some OA platforms and have the potential to dampen the global competitiveness of knowledge produced in Kenya and other countries in the Global South.
KW - Open access (OA)
KW - higher education in Africa
KW - knowledge production
UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01436597.2022.2056010
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130442685&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01436597.2022.2056010
DO - 10.1080/01436597.2022.2056010
M3 - Article
SN - 0143-6597
VL - 43
SP - 1408
EP - 1424
JO - Third World Quarterly
JF - Third World Quarterly
IS - 6
M1 - 17
ER -
