Where is my thesis?

For those who have gone through one or two stages of the Nigerian higher educational system, this question will not be strange.  After four or five years of study as an undergraduate, a student is expected to carry out an independent study in his/her field of study.  It is a rigorous, mentally tasking, time consuming and financially demanding task for every student.   Every student is expected to make four copies of the completed thesis - one for the student, one for the supervisor, one for the Department and the last for the University library (this might vary in some institutions).  The researches reported in this theses are supposedly carried out to solve or address specific societal problems.  It is a requirement for graduation from any higher institution in the country.

Let us put this into context. Assuming there are 20 universities in Nigeria.  Also assuming a total of 20 departments each with 50 students are in all the 20 universities.  Based on this assumptions, there are 20,000 thesis being submitted by undergraduates every year.   This implies that there exists 20,000 reports generated annually that directly (or indirectly) addresses various problems in our society.  Where are these theses?  To access any of these theses, you either know the student or the supervisor or apply to the Department or University library.  Yes, currently you cannot sit in your house and access any thesis within the country (except a few universities).

Why is it like this?  Let me give an unofficial explanation.  All thesis (undergraduate and postgraduate) are proprietary materials for the University.  I do not know of any other reason why theses are not online (if you know, kindly provide and i will update this article).  Well, if Federal and State institutions are funded by tax payers money, are the tax payers not entitled to the reports?  Do the institutions refund the students for the expenses incurred during the research work?  Did the student graduate without paying any school fees?  Is the claim to thesis as proprietary works actually valid? 

In my own opinion, academic theses should be readily available online in a variety of format.  One, it will reduce the rate of plagiarism among students as previous theses will be captured online.  Two, the availability of theses online will afford access by policy makers, industry experts and the general public for implementation.  Three, it is in line with best and emerging global trend in education.  Four, it serves as a means of preservation when hard copies of the theses are disposed or recycled (do we recycle?).  Five, it can generate income for the institution (http://ethos.bl.uk/Home.do). Six, will supervisors allow students go away with shoddy research work if their names will be appended to the online work? Methinks it will improve quality of research at all stages.

Where is your thesis?

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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.