WO–TH K: Researching the effectiveness of OA in the Global South

(1) To research the effectiveness of Open Access (OA) in the Global South (GS) in order to compare it with the situation in Germany. (2) To implement the knowledge gained on the promotion of OA in practice at TH Köln in order to test its applicability to other Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The project contributes to the general objectives of OA as well as to its increasing institutional and socio-cultural anchoring and recognition in German academic and research practice by implementing OA on a broad scale through innovative approaches and ensuring the reusability of the findings. 

The idea of OA has been put into practice by numerous institutions for over 20 years now. However, the promotion of scientific exchange is made more difficult by the fact that certain business models significantly lead to an imbalance in the publication and reception possibilities of scientific findings – especially to the disadvantage of people who are not institutionally connected or financially weaker countries. Nevertheless, the GS countries in particular are pioneers, e.g. in the development of national or regional OA publication platforms (SciELO, AmeliCA or African OpenScience Platform). Overall, though, there is a lack of studies that provide sufficient empirical evidence of the effectiveness of OA – particularly with regard to the GS. Accordingly, the realisation of whether the intended effects of the OA idea are actually achieved through OA publishing represents an existing desideratum.

The aim of the WO-TH K project is therefore to investigate the effectiveness of OA and the specific OA measures implemented in the GS. The initial objective of the planned study is to provide an overview of all the main effects of OA discussed in the literature, the regionally implemented OA measures and empirical findings on the OA landscape in the countries of the GS and to compare these with the situation in Germany. The focus will emphasise areas that have received little attention to date, such as the increase in citation rates, in order to identify potential gaps in research.

The second aim of the project is to put the findings into practice, initially at TH Köln, in line with the identified needs. In this way, workflows that have already been recognised as successful in the GS will be transferred to Germany and tested in practice at TH Köln. After a detailed evaluation of the exemplary transfer into practice, the findings will be presented and discussed in committees at the management level of the HEIs (especially the Universities of Applied Sciences) in order to disseminate them further and to anchor OA in a sustainable socio-cultural way through successful implementation in various HEIs. The outcomes, together with the findings of the study and the best practice experience at TH Köln, will be published as recommendations for action for other HEIs (e.g. Universities of Applied Sciences) by means of OA publications in various languages (German, English, Spanish) via common national and international OA channels. The aim is to ensure that the Global South can also benefit from the study and the recommendations for action with as few barriers as possible.