Open Research Africa
To enable the rapid sharing, discovery
use and reuse of African research to the
benefit of all.
WHAT WE DO
ORAThe Science for Africa Foundation community is dedicated to the principles of FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) publishing. Open Research Africa (ORA), a partnership of SFA and F1000, offers researchers the opportunity to share their findings on a rapid, peer-reviewed, indexed and FAIR platform.
ORA builds on the success of AAS Open Research, offering SFA Foundation-affiliated researchers a streamlined submission process which supports rapid publication of research outputs, thereby accelerating the dissemination of knowledge and the pace of new discoveries. Open, post-publication peer review promotes understanding of the review and revision process, eliminating unnecessary editorial delays, and removing peer review bias. Once published, all content on Open Research Africa is made available to researchers, patients, teachers, journalists – anyone -- free-of-charge. Research that passes peer review is indexed in major databases such as PubMed and Scopus.
ORA also offers sister research organizations in Africa a dedicated space, Gateways, to share and promote all of their research outputs rapidly and transparently via a bespoke publishing portal. These include the African Excellence Research Fund (AREF) and the African Academy of Sciences (AAS). We are also working with the World Continuing Education Alliance (WCEA) to enable them to provide healthcare professionals with access to relevant research and support their continued professional development (CPD).
Open Research Africa provides support for early career researchers by providing greater visibility and better recognition of their research outputs and enabling submission of a wide diversity of article types, such as method articles, study protocols and software tools. The platform will also provide career development and training tools, resources and events dedicated to themes around open research to the needs of African researchers.
Open Research Africa is now accepting submissions from eligible researchers. All researchers funded by the SFA Foundation are eligible to submit their work on the platform. African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and African Excellence Research Fund (AREF)-affiliated researchers are also invited to submit. Eligibility will grow as new partnerships are developed.
For more information on Open Research Africa or research sharing at SFA Foundation, visit: here.