webinar@asira: authoraid: supporting developing country researchers in publishing their work
TRANSCRIPT
AuthorAID: A global network supporting researchers in lower and middle income countries to publish and communicate their research
INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications)
• Access to e-resources • Evidence-Informed Policymaking • Journals Online • Country pages • AuthorAID
www.inasp.info
www.authoraid.info
Access to research
• 50,000+ journals and 20,000+ e-books from 50+ publishers
• available via INASP, up to 90% discounts
• 800 institutions across Africa
• Universities, research institutes, teaching hospitals, government departments
• 1.9 million students & researchers
www.inasp.info/en/training-resources/open-access-resources/
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Kenya Library & Information Services Consortium 58,000 journals/books in 129 institutions
Journals Online • The Journals Online project aims to improve the accessibility and
visibility of developing-country research.
• Provides a cost-effective and secure platform for online journals, along with advice, resource guides and links to suitable technologies and hosting organizations.
• There are currently 357 journals across the JOLs, with over 39,500 articles of which 95% are open access full text. The accessibility and popularity of the JOLs projects have a seen a steady increase in use with over 34.5 million downloads since 2007.
Journals Online Managed by INASP: • Bangladesh Journals Online: www.banglajol.info
• Latin America Journals Online: www.lamjol.info (Central America)
• Mongolia Journals Online: www.mongoliajol.info
• Nepal Journals Online: www.nepjol.info
• Sri Lanka Journals Online: www.sljol.info
Managed in-country: • African Journals Online: www.ajol.info
• Philippines Journals Online: www.philjol.info
• Vietnam Journals Online: www.vjol.info.vn
INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications)
• Evidence-Informed Policymaking
• Journals Online
• Access to e-resources
• Country pages
• AuthorAID
Evidence-Informed Policymaking
3-year VakaYiko programme launched with the
understanding that the routine use of research to
inform policy requires at least three factors to be in
place:
• Individuals with the skills to access, evaluate and use
research evidence
• Processes for handling research evidence in policy
making departments
• A wider enabling environment of engaged citizens,
media and civil society
1. Introduction to Evidence- Informed Policy Making including the role of evidence in policymaking process; different kinds of evidence, who uses them and why
2. A Complete Search Strategy including how to access different types evidence in developing countries, using networks, and searching databases effectively
3. Assessing Evidence including analysing source, credibility, bias and quality, as well as basic principles of research methodology
4. Communicating Evidence including tailoring messages to decision makers, writing policy briefs, preparing infographics and oral presentations
www.inasp.info/en/work/vakayiko/eipm-toolkit/
AuthorAID
• AuthorAID was launched in supports researchers in lower and middle income countries through:
• Free online training in research and proposal writing
• Mentoring support
• Networking and collaboration
• Embedding research and proposal writing within institutions
• Addressing gender inequalities in academic institutions.
INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications)
• Evidence-Informed Policymaking
• Journals Online
• Access to e-resources
• Country pages
• AuthorAID
What researchers tell us:
The AuthorAID discussion forum has over 2,000 members from around the world. In 2016 we invited an informal straw poll of members to ask them what is their biggest challenge in publishing or communicating their research. The top ten answers were as follows:
1. Lack of research funding 2. Writing in the English language 3. Identifying the most suitable, genuine journals 4. Delays with peer review 5. Getting their papers accepted though peer review 6. Publication costs (such as Article Processing Charges) 7. Lack of mentors, or people to check and review their manuscripts 8. Academic writing style 9. Poor or insufficient laboratory equipment 10. Difficulty communicating academic research to policy makers and the public
Discussion and Support
The AuthorAID discussion group is hosted on Dgroups and everybody is welcome to join the
conversation:
(over 1,000 members)
https://dgroups.org/groups/authoraiddiscussion
Online Training • Free online open courses in research and proposal writing • Interactive and moderated. All course completers receive
a certificate. • 6-week or 8-week courses • Run twice a year (in April and October) • Also offer annually in Spanish through partnership with
Latindex. • Next course: April 18th to June 12 • http://www.authoraid.info/en/e-learning/
Online Training • Literature reviews
• Publishing ethics
• How to write an academic paper
• Getting published
• How to write a grant proposal
• Predatory journals
Think. Check. Submit.
Think. Check. Submit. is a campaign to help researchers identify trusted journals for their research. It is a simple checklist researchers can use to assess the credentials of a journal or publisher.
www.Thinkchecksubmit.org
Mentoring & Collaboration
One of the main challenges that early-career researchers face is the shortage of mentors: senior researchers and more experienced peers who can provide them with advice on getting their research written and published.
• The mentoring system helps pair experienced mentors with researchers who need support at any stage of their writing project.
• Mentoring relationships can be short or long-term
• Support is available in a wide range of tasks: such as planning and writing an article, editing and interpreting data, writing grant proposals, and career planning
• The AuthorAID mentoring platform currently has over 2,000 mentors and mentees.
AuthorAID Mentoring
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Current mentors
United States 51 Brazil 5
India 47 Germany 5
United Kingdom 35 Ethiopia 4
Canada 13 Malaysia 4
Nigeria 12 Pakistan 4
Bangladesh 9 Uganda 4
Australia 7 Sri Lanka 3
Egypt 7 Mexico 3
Nepal 6 Vietnam 3
Sweden 6 Netherlands 3
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Total Mentors: 290
Active Mentees
Nigeria 117 Bangladesh 29
India 65 Sri Lanka 23
Kenya 58 Rwanda 23
Pakistan 57 Cameroon 20
Ghana 45 Zimbabwe 19
Tanzania 43 Zambia 15
Ethiopia 38 Egypt 14
Uganda 38 South Africa 11
Nepal 33 Mexico 10
Indonesia 30 Philippines 10
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AuthorAID Resource Library
• Over 700 items
• Over 500 in English; others in Arabic, Chinese, French, Persian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese
• Presentations, articles, web links, and more
• Many aspects of research communication represented
• Can search by topic, resource type, or language
Would you like to run your own research-writing or grant proposal-writing course? We have entire course
packs, and facilitator notes.
“As a group of female academics at the University of Dodoma, we had noticed inequalities in our institution. We noticed that of the 694 current academic staff members, only 175 are female and there are no women in a senior leadership or College principal positions.”
Why we now focus more on supporting women researchers:
In many countries women face many more challenges in pursuing research and academic careers than men.
– Family roles and expectations
– Policies and practices fail to address women’s needs
– Obstacles in completing field research
– ‘Leaky pipeline’
The barriers and biases that sustain gender inequality also prevent the creation and use of knowledge that can enable inclusive, just and sustainable development.
Building capacity of institutions to run training in research writing
• Institutionalise training in research writing in 10 institutions in 4
countries: Ghana, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Vietnam (5-year programme)
• Supporting in training trainers to run face to face workshops; • Support in developing and facilitating online courses; • Building capacity for mentoring and supporting writing at an
institutional level. “Immediately after taking the online course, I started putting my data together and started writing a manuscript from my PhD data. I could
not have been better equipped to take on the task” –Academic, Tanzanian Fisheries Research Institute
Grants and Funding
• Workshop grants provide opportunities for experienced researchers to hold training in research writing, proposal writing or communicating evidence to policymakers in their own institution.
• Travel grants provide early career academics the chance to present their research at an international conference, to network with other researchers and to learn from leaders in heir field.
Thank you!
• Jennifer Chapin, Programme Manager, AuthorAID
• Questions?