Open Science: Valorising local knowledge

An international colloquium to that effect opened in Yaounde Tuesday on May 25, 2016.

Even though higher educational and scientific research are considered as major tools for development, African countries south of the Sahara continue to remain behind as compared to other countries in the rest of the world. In 2012 Africa produced only 0.72 per cent of articles registered in the Scopus database which is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature.

It is in this light that a three-day international colloquium on the theme: “Cognitive justice, open science and valorisation of local knowledge”, opened in Yaounde on May 25, 2016. One of the speakers at the opening, Professor Florence Piron of the Université de Laval, Canada, said it is important to criticise the normative dominant framework of science to understand that another science is possible.

She explained that students can do science which is closer to local populations, preoccupations and values. “That it is perfectly acceptable. Their research is relevant. It is okay to publish in English, Ewondo, Ghomala, whatever they want to because they want people to understand them,” she said.

The objective of the colloquium is to enable doctoral students in human and social sciences to learn perspectives offered by open science and cognitive justice in the development of research capacities in Cameroon. At the end of the colloquium it is expected that participants will draft a road map for a more open science and also convince young researchers to hope for another science, publish and research more with confidence.

Organised by the Advanced School of Mass Communication (ASMAC) in collaboration with the Université de Laval, Canada, the workshop brought together specialists, researchers and university students of social and human sciences from Africa, Haiti and Canada.