Maxime Descartes Mbogning FonkouFounder, CognosX.
← All projects In preparation

Open access and research inequalities in Africa

Two decades of African research output, open access and collaboration, measured at continental scale.

Line chart of the open-access share of articles by African region, 2002–2021, with Eastern Africa highest and Northern Africa lowest
Open-access share of articles by African region, 2002–2021: Eastern Africa leads at about 76%, while Northern Africa reaches about 50%. From the manuscript in preparation.
Stacked area chart of open-access types over time, with gold growing and bronze and green shrinking
Mix of open-access types, 2002–2021: gold grows to most open articles while bronze and green shrink. From the manuscript in preparation.
Waterfall chart of 854,785 articles by access type: hybrid, bronze, green, gold and closed
854,785 articles by access type: 378,955 open (212,310 gold) and 475,830 closed. From the manuscript in preparation.
Line chart of open-access share by collaboration type, 2002–2021
Open-access share by collaboration type: international collaborations are the most open (63% in 2021), national ones the least (52.5%). From the manuscript in preparation.

Problem

Open-access policy for African research is debated with little continent-wide evidence.

Approach

Analysed 854,785 articles published 2002–2021 by open-access route, collaboration pattern and funding, using OpenAlex and Unpaywall.

Result

Manuscript in preparation. Open articles tended to be more cited, and international collaboration drove access.

My role

Lead author: data assembly, analysis and writing.

Outputs

Manuscript draft; figures; notebooks

Methods and tools

  • Scopus
  • Web of Science
  • Python
  • VOSviewer

Skills

  • Research evaluation
  • equity mapping
  • science policy