This blog post was first published on Research4Life’s website on 22nd August 2024, you can read the original post here: https://www.research4life.org/fr/news-fr/collaboration-entre-r4l-doaj-et-lassaf/.
A First Series of Positive French-Language Training Sessions
The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a unique and extensive index of diverse quality, peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly research journals.
Last year, DOAJ was invited by Research4Life, in collaboration with ASSAf, to present a program aimed at researchers and editors from low-income countries. This initial series of webinars was held in three countries: Tanzania, Bhutan, and Ghana. From this first initiative, it became clear that additional sessions in other languages were needed to reach a broader audience.
A Program for French-speaking Researchers in Africa
This year, our collaboration became more ambitious, allowing us to organize webinars in three additional languages: Spanish, Ukrainian, and French. French was used for the first time in June to deliver four webinars.
For this inaugural French-language session, R4L selected four French-speaking countries that are part of the Research4Life Country Connectors: Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Senegal. The response was highly positive, with over 100 registrations for these webinars.
The topics covered extended beyond just introducing DOAJ and its indexing criteria. For example, one module covered principles of transparency and best practices in scientific publishing, while another addressed predatory practices and the use of artificial intelligence tools in scientific publishing.
Questions from participants sometimes exceeded DOAJ’s scope, which allowed us to redirect them to the Research4Life portal.
The DOAJ is an open infrastructure created by the community and for the community. Its mission is to increase the visibility, accessibility, reputation, usage, and impact of quality and peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly research journals, regardless of discipline, geography, or language. DOAJ includes journals in fields or languages sometimes underrepresented in other databases. Indexed journals come from large publishers as well as small and institutional publishers. Furthermore, over 13,000 indexed journals do not charge publication fees, which counters the common misconception that open access necessarily involves high publication costs.
A local approach to be strengthened
Participants were very receptive and engaged during this first series of French-language training sessions. With the language barrier removed, communication was smooth, revealing a strong interest in further French-language training.
Researchers raised the need for specific training, such as for evaluators on the principles of transparency and best practices from COPE. This feedback will help us tailor our content to researchers’ needs. Another example could be adding a module on digitising printed scientific content.
Interactions with information professionals, especially librarians, highlighted the importance of collaborating with local networks such as CAMES or AJOL to ensure the effective sharing of best practices.
The webinars were also presented in collaboration with librarians from the WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville. This teamwork helped address specific questions, including access to R4L collections and the importance of regional bodies, underscoring the need to work with local experts.
We are convinced of the benefits of creating content in languages other than English. And this program not only showcased the fundamental principles of scientific publishing but also established and strengthened ties with local stakeholders, opening up collaboration opportunities for DOAJ, R4L, and ASSAf.
DOAJ is excited to support the editorial teams of French-speaking journals by indexing their journals, thereby enhancing their visibility and academic and societal impact, particularly through Research4Life.
Given the strong interest generated by this initial initiative, which was limited to four countries within the Research4Life Country Connectors program, it is essential for Research4Life to broaden its training outreach. Indeed, during the French session, we had participants from 15 different countries in addition to the target audience. Expanding this approach will not only boost the Research4Life program but also address the evident demand, as demonstrated by the enthusiastic response of over 100 registrations overall.
The slides of the accredited course are available on our Zenodo page.
