The Open Access (Open Journal Systems) paradigm and the production of scholarly journals in developing countries

Despite the relevance ofjournals to the development of scholarship on the African continent, printed journals are going through turbulent times. Alternative models of distributing scholarly communication are needed. A model such as the Open Journal Systems (OJS), which is reversing the declining access for faculty and students, is considered for developing countries in this report. The report examines OJS, an open source journal management/publishing system designed to support open access scholarly publishing and its application in the developing countries. The report describes the historical timeline of the Public Knowledge Project at University of British Columbia, which gave birth to the OJS, and the efforts that have been made by developing countries to adapt OJS to journal publishing with the hope that the developing countries may increase their contribution to global knowledge. The report concludes by discussing the challenges facing developing countries in embracing open access models for scholarly publishing.