Ngenge Ransom Tanyu is a Ph.D. second-year Political Science and Administration student, at the Pedagogical University of Kraków in Poland. As a Graduate Teaching Assistant, he lectures on international relations, civilizational transformations, and Africa-Europe/EU relations to bachelor’s degree students in the same institution. He has a keen interest in higher education studies, research and innovation, and international and European security regulations.

A recipient of three scholarships, he has a wealth of experience in data and qualitative research. A social entrepreneur, he is the founder of Africa Online & Publications Library, AOPL. When we discussed what the AOPL is all about, he argues that we cannot talk about higher education in the 21st Century with a near non-existing online library. The plagiarism phenomenon in Africa is also the focus of our discussions. Read on…

enge Ransom Tanyu. Photo: AOPL
Ngenge Ransom Tanyu. Photo: AOPL

Thampers Media: You founded Africa Online & Publication Library, AOPL which provides access to scholarly research for students, lecturers, and universities. Where and how did this whole idea come about?

Ngenge Ransom Tanyu: The creation of AOPL was informed by observations on deficiencies in how knowledge is currently produced, disseminated, popularized, and preserved in Africa. Our exposure to other higher education and knowledge systems is also a motivation. Most importantly I have a passion for scientific research with the objective of advancing innovation in higher education in Africa.

Limited Access to Quality Research Material

You would realize that fewer than 10% of higher education institutions in Africa, on average, have working websites, let alone online libraries. The few online libraries that exist are either owned by or affiliated with institutions outside Africa, focus on specific subjects and disciplines and hardly serve the interests of the continent. I also observe that onsite libraries in Africa are not up to date, under-utilized, and both insufficient in number and quality. As a result, students at universities, professional schools, vocational colleges, and other institutions of higher learning across the continent have limited access to high-quality research material to aid their studies.

This has effects on students’ academic performance and the general level of higher education quality in Africa. Moreover, scholarly theses and dissertations completed by students are often stored in dusty corners of school libraries. AOPL comes in to provide an online database where these theses and dissertations can be preserved, shared, and popularized. 

Absence of Online Library

I have not only studied in Africa but also in Europe and at four different universities in four different countries. With the experience acquired in both Africa and Europe, I can better examine the quality of higher education in some African countries. I can compare the same, for example, to Norway, Germany, and Poland and the extent to which students have access to academic literature. In the institutions I have attended in Norway, Germany, and Poland, students have access to millions of up-to-date study resources, unlike in some African countries, where no single university has an online library.

This is not to suggest that students in Africa have no access to online study resources at all since many make use of online platforms such as Academia and Google Scholar that provide comparable services. However, it would be ideal if these online resources were only additions to what is provided by African higher education institutions. Furthermore, why not have something owned by Africans, for Africans, and projected on the world stage? This is where AOPL comes in.

One of the issues related to writing and publishing is plagiarism. How do you intend to address it? How do you know an article sent to you is not the work of another author?

We take the problem of plagiarism very seriously. In our publication guidelines, we have cautioned authors and stated specifics. Our editorial policy reads: “e_AOPL journals operate an anonymous and rigorous double-blind review system to ascertain the academic quality of all submissions. Manuscripts across a wide range of academic fields are accepted for review. If qualified after a rigorous double-blind study, the manuscripts are published in one of the editions of the journal. In addition, e_AOPL journals ensure diversity in its review and editorial policy by maintaining an active continent-wide editorial board.”

Minimizing Plagiarism

While peer review does not eliminate the potential of plagiarism entirely, it significantly minimizes it. Our long-term goal is to create our own anti-plagiarism software that will be integrated into our website. As part of the submission process, authors will be obliged to run their papers through the software. In the meantime, we try to limit plagiarism through our double-blind anonymous peer review process.

We are made to understand that authors must pay for their works to be published. Do you think this is feasible given that some might be thinking AOPL ought to instead pay them?

AOPL is not only a scholarly journal. It is a mixture of an online library, publishing (running a couple of journals), and a research center (providing research and consultancy services). It is also a platform where even tertiary-level teachers can sell handouts to students. All our journals have open access and open-access journals are characterized by financing structures that do not compel the reader to pay to access the journal’s content. It instead depends on author fees or public funding, subsidies, and sponsorships.

We are in the process of adding a membership subscription feature to AOPL, although it will only be applicable to around fifty percent of the research content on our site. Our primary objective is not to make money. The company needs money for platform maintenance and compensation for those whose efforts are contributing to the success of the project. We advised ourselves that open access and membership subscriptions were the optimal means of achieving this goal. Open access provides authors and users with great financial flexibility, provided that our rates consider the economic conditions of our target market.

Which is that target market? And what has been their response if you have been approaching them? Do people and institutions show interest?

Interests of Libraries, Institutions

We intend to work with higher education institutions throughout the continent. Even though we have existed for more than a year, we are at the very early stages of implementation. This is because the AOPL is completely financed by its founder and co-founder. We are currently searching and applying for funds, but it is not up to us to decide if we will get one soon. I cannot tell whether higher education institutions in Africa are interested in AOPL since we have not yet started reaching out to them to explore the possibilities for a partnership. This will begin in August 2022, but only when our web developers are done with the maintenance of the AOPL website.

Would you be publishing only African books or resources worthy of publication? How do you assess and accept a document for publication?

We accept articles based on original research, reviews, special reports, opinion, analyses, and brief communications. You can find details of the types of papers we assess here.

As part of our efforts to digitally preserve knowledge produced in Africa, we also gather and archive open-access books, scientific papers, and other academic materials published elsewhere. For theses and dissertations from students, we plan to achieve this in collaboration with higher education institutions across the continent. For the purposes of creation, replication, and distribution of research material, we always take intellectual property rights into account.

We also understand that all material sent for publication should be in the English Language. Why this choice of language and would it not limit the scope of work AOPL is to publish?

To simplify work for management and the editorial board, as well as to prevent complications at this early stage of the project, we have opted to stick to English for the time being. However, one of our medium and long-term goals is to include research published in other languages spoken across Africa. It is also a contentious subject considering that one of our goals is to decolonize knowledge. Choosing English as a working language already compromises our position.

Reymond Budi, Research Coordinator, Cameroon: Photo AOPL

Is the AOPL a registered company, an NPO or you are just a virtual organisation?

AOPL is registered as a social enterprise with headquarters in Kigali, Rwanda. We do not currently have an office on-site, but we plan to have one in the future. Furthermore, we intend to have centres throughout Africa, where users of AOPL will be able to utilise our computer labs to access our library services and enjoy other indoor and education-related recreational activities on our checklist.

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