In 2011-2013 EIFL provided financial support to 34 projects that implemented national and institutional open access (OA) advocacy campaigns to reach out to research communities and OA publishing initiatives.

Through small grants and support from their own institutions, the projects engaged in a wide variety of campaigns and activities, including: holding workshops, creating websites, building institutional OA repositories, creating e-learning courses, and implementing OA publishing platforms.

The case studies resulting from the projects reveal impressive first-time achievements and will help increase the availability of research literature in developing and transition countries.

Learn more about the key achievements for this institutional OA campaign in Malawi below. You can access the full case study (strategies, tactics and tools, success stories and lessons learnt) by clicking on the download button.

ABOUT THE PROJECT IN MALAWI

Kamuzu College of Nursing has researchers who have gained international renown such as Professor Chrissie Kaponda, Associate Professor Address Malata, Associate Professor Ellen Chirwa, Dr Angella Chimwaza and Dr Abigail Kazembe; their groundbreaking research has shaped the discourse and practice of international nursing. While these excellent pieces of work, published in international journals, are easily accessible to students, lecturers and researchers in institutions outside Malawi, Malawians are required to pay journal subscription fees to access works of their colleagues. Usually these fees are out of reach to most Malawian scholars and researchers.

Institutional repositories (IR) contribute to the visibility and ranking of universities. It is envisaged that the IR at Kamuzu College of Nursing will be a platform for disseminating research conducted at the College. Theses will be uploaded there as well as gray literature. Currently, Kamuzu College of Nursing is planning to establish a peer reviewed journal.

In 2011, Kamuzu College of Nursing Library was building an OA repository for research in nursing, midwifery and reproductive health. Before the outreach campaign, when the library requested researchers to submit lists of their publications so that archiving policies of the associated journals could be checked and where necessary permissions to archive sought, only one researcher, the Vice Principal, responded. The College Principal was also in support of the project.

There are many misconceptions by researchers at the College about OA and copyright issues. For example, they are afraid of their work being stolen if they publish in OA. This project has laid the ground for a better understanding of OA publishing.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS

• 35 researchers attended two ‘research lunches’ (one at Lilongwe Campus and one at Blantyre Campus) where they learned about OA and its benefits.
• The most distinguished researchers of Kamuzu College of Nursing have now deposited their publications into the repository: Dr Address Malata (Associate Professor of Nursing) who is the Principal of the College and Dr Ellen Chirwa (Associate Professor of Nursing) who is also Vice Principal, Dr. Angela Chimwaza and Dr Abigail Kazembe.
• Launch of an OA Malawi Nursing Journal has been proposed.
• After the advocacy campaign, the library received 15 journal articles and one book chapter for deposit into the IR (prior to the campaign, when they put out the same request, they only received one publication).
• The project raised the profile of the library. Traditionally, the library is viewed as a passive supporter of curriculum implementation.
• The Principal proposed that the importance of IR and OA publishing should be shared with other colleges in the University of Malawi. She further proposed that University of Malawi should be requested to consider amending rules and regulations for promotion of academic staff to recognise depositing in OA IR.
• Funding was secured to purchase a new and high specifications server for the IR. As a result the project changed from an advocacy to implementation and advocacy.