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“The idea of paying for publication makes me feel that the decision to publish a particular research depends on profit and not on the quality of the research,” said Tamer Al-Sayed, associate professor of computer science at the University. from Qatar.
Some Arab countries, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, are working to promote open access through initiatives that make open publishing affordable or even free for researchers, and according to the UNESCO report, both countries have the highest citation rates of research papers among Arab countries.
Qatar has three main open access initiatives, including the Qatar National Library’s Open Authors’ Fund, whereby the library pays an article processing fee on behalf of authors for the costs of articles published in journals in free access.
Another initiative is Qatar University’s QSpace platform, which hosts an online collection of scientific articles and academic activities for faculty, students and academics.
In addition, the Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press in Doha hosts an open access, peer-reviewed online publishing platform called QScience.
New challenges caused by Covid –19
Despite institutional support for open access in Qatar, initiatives like QScience face new challenges and uncertainties due to the coronavirus situation.
“The main challenge was to work remotely as a team and virtually develop our communication skills,” said Rima Usaifan, editorial and academic journal manager at HBKU Press during the panel discussion.
“We are also concerned about funding. We don’t know what the financial consequences of this outbreak will be, how the publishing industry will be affected, and for how long.
The situation seems more difficult for open access periodicals in less wealthy Arab countries like Egypt.
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According to Aziza Ali Mohammadi Abu El-Enein, deputy editor of Cybrarians, open access periodicals in Egypt suffer from lack of funding, lack of academic recognition and the mistrust of some readers of articles published there.
Cybrarians, an open access digital publication, is published in Arabic and specializes in bibliography, librarianship, and information sources. He relies on the voluntary efforts of the editorial staff to be able to present his issues for free. Aboul-Enein argues that free open publications are particularly beneficial for young researchers who cannot afford to publish or access scholarly research in commercial scientific journals.
Kronfleh, of the World Summit on Healthcare Innovation (WISH), recommends looking at open access in a broad context, not only in terms of publication, but also by sharing information with stakeholders, partners and society as a whole.
“There is a tendency to work in isolation, to keep information and not share it,” he said. But collective information shared in a collaborative spirit can identify gaps, challenges and opportunities and act as a catalyst for evidence-based decision making.
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