African research - how one organisation is bringing it out of hiding
Jinfo Blog

By Victoria Alford

Abstract

Jinfo recently interviewed Susan Murray, the executive director of African Journals OnLine (AJOL) - find out why we were particularly interested in this non-profit organisation.

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Sometimes, important research that hasn't always been readily available needs a platform, so that those who might be interested in the content can easily access it.

At STM Frankfurt last year, Jinfo was made aware of African Journals OnLine (AJOL), a company which helps get word of African academics out there and makes their published work readily available to researchers.

Although this may seem a strange concept in this modern age, African-published journals are sometimes still only published in hard copy. This, coupled with the fact that sometimes African academics are bound by "outdated institutional policies" to only publish in overseas journals, means African researchers can struggle to find and access this important content at all.

If you have a Jinfo Subscription, you can log in now to read the full article, "Q&A with African Journals OnLine - increasing the visibility of African research". 

Who and what is AJOL? 

This not-for-profit organisation was set up in 1998 to provide an online library of peer-reviewed, African-published scholarly journals. It started out as an online index of research journals and has since been funded by a range of donors and various European governments.

AJOL now has a huge library of journals and articles, with a further 350 journals still waiting for assessment and possible inclusion; but this will have to wait as AJOL is currently developing a new framework with the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP).

The organisation offers subscription-based journals, but it also includes free articles (in fact, over half the articles on the platform are free). 

AJOL also provides free hosting and other free services, as the organisation is all too aware that many journals won't have the resources to get published online in isolation and be visible to search engines on their own.

Jinfo caught up with AJOL's executive director, Susan Murray, for a Q&A session to dig deeper into the offerings of the organisation. If you have a Jinfo Subscription, you can log in now to read the full article, "Q&A with African Journals OnLine - increasing the visibility of African research".

If you don't have a Jinfo Subscription, you can sign up here to get full access to our tools, original research and expertise.

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