Publication and visibility of African scholars’ research in internationally recognized peer-reviewed journals remain limited. Among the factors complicating the situation, Caroline Tannen, senior policy and advocacy officer at the Mawazo Institute, named high publication fees and the spread of predatory publishers. She wrote about this in a guest column for Nation Kenya.
According to Tannen, academic journals enable researchers to share the results of their work with colleagues, industry representatives, specialists, and decision-makers. At the same time, the limited presence of African research in recognized publications restrains the creation and dissemination of knowledge produced on the continent.
The cost of open access
The author notes that the Article Processing Charge (APC) in Africa can range from $60 to $3,000. Globally, this amount sometimes exceeds $12,000. According to her, APCs cover the costs of peer review, copyediting, typesetting, website publication, marketing, and indexing in key databases.
Open access expands public access to scientific knowledge, but it often shifts costs from readers to researchers, Tannen writes. In her view, this disproportionately burdens scholars from institutions and environments with limited resources.
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Differences between publications
Kenyan publisher CARI Journals lists a fee of 12,000 Kenyan shillings, or $95, while Egerton University journals charge about 5,000 shillings, or $40, per article. Tannen notes that these platforms are less well known and, in her assessment, may have issues with stability, the quality of peer review, and international appeal.
At the same time, leading open-access journals may charge approximately $7,540, the author noted. She also pointed out that many such well-known journals are owned by commercial publishers.
According to Tannen, from 2024 to March 2026, the Mawazo Institute spent $10,954 to cover scholarly publication costs for five participants in the Mawazo Fellows program. The author called for the creation of national or regional mechanisms so that researchers can publish in recognized and reputable journals at an affordable cost.
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