Leesi Ebenezer Mitee Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria
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The Problem of Funding the Publication of Academic Journals in Nigeria and other Developing Countries: A Simple Solution

Copyright © 2018 By Dr. Leesi Ebenezer Mitee
29 December 2018

Poor funding has been blamed for the poor publication of journals in universities and other educational institutions, especially in Nigeria and other developing countries. The assertion is that the printing of such journals is expensive and therefore beyond the scarce resources of these institutions.

The good news is that the said claim is based on a faulty approach to the publishing of academic journals in the 21st Century: There is a simple solution to the problem. Universities and other educational institutions, especially those in the developed countries, have implemented this simple solution and are now reaping the benefits of doing so.

Durham Statement on Open Access to Legal Scholarship 2009

For example, on 7 November 2008, the directors of the law libraries of some of the topmost American universities (the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, New York University, Northwestern University, the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, the University of Texas, and Yale University) made the famous Durham Statement on Open Access to Legal Scholarship 2009. Part of the Durham Statement states:

“Call to Action: We therefore urge every U.S. law school to commit to ending print publication of its journals and to making definitive versions of journals and other scholarship produced at the school immediately available upon publication in stable, open, digital formats, rather than in print. . . .”

As rightly revealed by the action of some of the most prestigious universities in the world through the said Durham Statement, in this age of the all-pervasive and breathtaking developments in information and communications technology (ICT), there is virtually no longer any need for the traditional (brick-and-mortar or physical) print publication of academic journals anywhere in the world.

The reality of the possibility of dispensing with paper-based publications is particularly relevant to developing countries where there is usually, very unfortunately, poor funding of universities and other educational institutions.

Advantages of Online Publication of Academic Journals

The advantages of online publishing over traditional publishing are numerous, numerous indeed. They include the following:

  1. Lowest production cost;
  2. Fastest publication time;
  3. Lowest distribution cost;
  4. Widest global distribution;
  5. Fastest global distribution;
  6. The possibility of effecting corrections in real-time and seamlessly;
  7. Portability of electronic publications, as millions of books and all other types of publications can be stored in the virtual library on mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and computers;
  8. Perpetual access and preservation from destruction by things like fire, water, and rot, as electronic publications can be archived with preservation technologies, so they can be retrieved anytime; and
  9. No physical space required for storing publications on personal bookshelves and in libraries.

 

Conclusion

One of the major problems of most universities and other educational institutions in developing countries, including Nigeria, is their unfortunate backwardness in the use of ICT. They do not operate as modern establishments in the 21st Century at all.

All these institutions need is the use of their computer science staff to publish their online journals on their official websites. That way, the publishing cost is so minimal that it is virtually nothing. And that is the simple solution to the problem of funding the publication of academic journals in Nigeria and other developing countries.

Copyright © 2018 By Dr. Leesi Ebenezer Mitee
Legal Informaticist & Director of the Nigerian Legal Research and Legal Education Support Initiative

29 December 2018

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Dr. Leesi Ebenezer Mitee
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