ASUU-FG Negotiation: Matters Arising

There is no gainsaying that the Academic Staff Union of Universities is actively fighting for the soul of Nigerian education. Over the years, ASUU's struggles have yielded much-needed funding for institutions and better welfare for academics. The battle might have been won but the war continues. The last industrial action by the union has resulted in the payment of backlogs of accrued earnings, funding for the Universities, the constitution of visitation panels, and many more wins.  

However, there are some pertinent issues that ASUU must bring to the negotiation table, as soon as the opportunity presents itself. In this brief article, I present a few of those issues.

(1) Article Processing Charges

Nigerian researchers operate in a global world. There are no separate rules for Nigerian academics when it comes to publishing. The publication process is described in this three-part series (here). Globally, there is increasing agitation for the Gold Access publishing model, where authors pay and everyone gets to read freely. Publishers expect institutions to pay for article processing charges. However, a lack of such facilities in Federal and State institutions has placed Nigerian researchers at a great disadvantage. The best we can get from publishers is a 50% waiver, which is still prohibitive. ASUU must as a matter of urgency bring this issue to the negotiation table. A framework where the Federal Government, either through TETFUND or ETF, pays for published articles with selected publishers without additional burden on researchers should be developed.

(2) Access to articles and books

Research thrives on the work of others. This makes access to already published articles and books very vital in the research cycle. One critical obstacle Nigerian researchers face is paywall when trying to access publications. For instance, in trying to download this article https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219477521500073, you are faced with a charge of £35. Even with an upgraded pay, this charge is outrageous considering there is the need for access to many articles per year. ASUU needs to negotiate with the FG about access to articles for students and researchers within the country. The cost should not be borne by academics.

Open Science in Nigeria

 There cannot be meaningful  industrial and national development without access to research data and results from the academia.    The academia acts as incubators of ideas and technology, providing solutions to industrial problems and training of manpower for development.    Technological and national development (or the lack thereof) can be linked to the relationship between the academia and the industry.     Many research data and results are being generated in our academic institutions yearly that can solve pressing and urgent industrial and national problems but the appropriate end users do not know about it or have access to it.     Embracing open science can reduce the gap between the academia and the industry.

Wikipedia defined open science as the movement to make scientific research, data and dissemination accessible to all levels of an inquiring society, amateur or professional.   I will say it the capacity for EVERYONE to see your research, access your data, methods and result and reuse it with appropriate credit.    There are several arguments for and against open science but in my own opinion, open science is the future of publishing.  Open science reduces fraud because it allows for verification of reported results.   Africa and African researchers will benefit as they will have access to research results freely.   I can also say that free things spread very fast.   Noteworthy in the drive for quick and prompt access to quality and reliable government data is the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics led by Dr. Yemi Kale.

Why is open access elusive in developing countries?

There are two publishing models:  (i) author (or sponsor) pays, audience read freely (ii) author does not pay, audience pay to read.  Most publishing houses within the country have no online presence, are not abstracted or indexed anywhere and are profit (not quality) driven.  This is not in favour of researchers who are mandated to publish both locally and internationally.   Basically, authors paying to publish in a journal without online presence are paying for obscurity. In a fast growing technological world such journals are not accessible beyond the local library.   Most local journals adopt the first publishing models.   Recently, international journals are adopting the two publishing models giving the author a choice to choose.   Nigerian authors generally choose the second model when confronted with this choice.  The reason is very clear:  there is no financial support for publishing articles.  The cost of open access is prohibitive, even for the highest cadre in the academics. 

What is the way forward?

Institutions (backed by government policy) should mandate that all published articles by academics within the country be open access or have an open access version.    Thesis (undergraduate and postgraduate) from all academic institutions (monotechnics, polytechnics, and universities) should be archived in a central repository managed by the Nigerian University Commission.      Local journals that can meet international standard with well written ethics and guidelines should be supported financially to embrace open access.  This should be continually monitored for compliance.  The NUC should take on the responsibility of assessing publishing houses where academic researches are published.