Connecting ECR Challenges and Workplans to Existing WACREN –LIBSENSE Open Science Initiatives

This presentation titled:  Connecting ECR Challenges and Workplans to Existing WACREN–LIBSENSE Open Science Initiatives by Femi Qudus Arogundade, Open Science Community Manager of WACREN, maps five WACREN–LIBSENSE open science initiatives — PublishNow, the No-Fee OA Publishing in Africa Community of Practice, RUMBU, ORCID–WACA and COPPHA PublishNow — onto the institutional problems early career researchers are most likely to encounter. It argues that work plans should begin with a challenge rather than a project, and sets out a five-stage pathway: define the challenge, gather evidence, build the work plan, connect to a support pathway, and document impact. Common ECR challenges are named up front: unaffordable APCs, weak local journals, invisible scholarly outputs, inconsistent researcher identification, and slow or opaque peer review.

Each initiative is then presented as a distinct entry point, with a challenge statement, key diagnostic questions, an assessment prompt, and concrete workplan actions. PublishNow addresses journal management and Diamond OA infrastructure; the No-Fee OA CoP covers editorial capacity, policy and sustainability; RUMBU tackles the accessibility of Nigerian institutional scholarly outputs, including theses, datasets and code; ORCID–WACA addresses persistent identifiers and attribution; and COPPHA PublishNow introduces the Publish–Review–Curate model for open review in public health. The closing slide divides responsibilities: ECRs lead local action and evidence-gathering, while WACREN–LIBSENSE supplies platforms, training and sustaining support.