Stellenbosch University to host Berlin 10 Open Access Conference

Megan Wait | Engineering News | November 1, 2012

The tenth yearly Berlin 10 Open Access Conference will be taking place on the continent for the first time next week, with Stellenbosch University (SU) hosting the gathering on November 7 and 8. SU library and information service senior director Ellen Tise said researchers and academics from across the continent would benefit from attending the conference, which would further open doors to increased access to research information.

“Several research and academic institutions in Africa and other developing countries simply cannot afford the high costs of access to academic information. Open access offers an alternative to the traditional publications process by making use of the internet to provide unimpeded access to scientific information,” she said.

The Berlin 10 Open Access Conference is an yearly project of the Max Planck Institute of Germany, where the first gathering took place in 2003. At the time, the Institute and European Cultural Heritage Online brought together a group of international experts with the aim of implementing a new Internet-based research environment through the application of open-access principles to make scientific knowledge and cultural heritage freely accessible...