Resharing here—a thoughtful reflection by our colleague, Ginny Hendricks, on what it means to learn with a community, especially relevant if you work on engagement or knowledge-sharing.
I learned so much from the research community in Ghana this week at #CrossrefAccra. Now that I’m home after a 12-hour “race across Europe” challenge due to the Heathrow diversion (!) I can properly reflect on an inspiring week:
University- and library-led publishing is the default in Ghana. Like elsewhere, University Presses are declining, but there are very few publishing organisations that are distinct from those directly progressing scientific knowledge, which means they’re well set up to coordinate and set policy as a nation of research publishing.
Of the independent publishers, though, ‘small’ does not mean being less aware of or participative in Crossref; some of the publishers in Ghana have the best quality metadata we see across the whole membership of 22,000 and 160 countries! E.g. check out Noyam and their participation report at LinkedIn.
The big shared goal is, of course, greater discoverability of African research and recognition on a global scale. People were self-critical about slow progress, but with Ghanaian, West African, and Pan-African mission-aligned initiatives like https://CARLIGH.org, Ghana Library Association, WACREN, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa - FARA; the Association of African Universities and AFRICAN JOURNALS ONLINE (RF), to name but a few, it’s clear they are well on the way and leading others. It just takes time, and we are definitely getting there, step by step.
OJS from Public Knowledge Project is critical! Free and open source + good Crossref plugins = the most heavily used publishing platform for discoverability of published research.
Being listed in DOAJ is also desirable because it means they’ve passed a high bar of quality and transparency.
People still really care about getting their journals listed in Scopus. We discussed that Crossref cannot help get through anyone’s selection process, but in general, discoverability is hugely improved with Crossref DOIs.
I also discovered that:
Palm Wine is delicious, a bit like lemonade, but be careful when you stand up…
The famous jollof rice argument between Ghanaians and Nigerians about who does it best was settled: it came from Senegal and the Jolof empire/region!
The Kwame Nkrumah Museum and Mausoleum is a beautiful and breathtaking commemoration. Walking around in the evening while it’s lit up was very special.
Ghanaians have been fierce since 1957.
Thank you again to the wonderful and hospitable people who joined us and welcomed us to Accra - we’ll definitely be in touch soon for more collaborative discussion - and action. Joseph Agyei-Gyekye, Richard Bruce Lamptey, Dr Mac Anthony Cobblah, Naa Kai Amanor-Mfoafo, Amy P. A. Asimah (PhD), Effah Amponsah (MPhil,APR), RANSFORD BEKOE, (sooo many others too), and our ambassadors from Senegal (Oumy Ndiaye) and Cameroon (Audrey Kenni), not forgetting Crossref colleagues Johanssen Obanda, Evans Atoni, and Patience Mbum 
