Knowledge Futures Group and AfricArXiv launch audio/visual preprint repository on PubPub

PubPub, the open source collaboration platform built by the Knowledge Futures Group, has partnered with AfricArXiv, the African preprint repository, to host audio/visual preprints. This partnership will enable multimedia submissions around research outputs, including community participation and feedback for and from researchers. The site can be found at africarxiv.pubpub.org.1 

As a hosting platform for preprints, accepted manuscripts, and post-prints, including the ability to link to data and code, AfricArXiv thereby further accelerates the impact and worldwide discoverability of African researchers contributions to the global knowledge base. 

“Launching audio/visual preprints takes scholarly communication to the next level - giving scientists the multimedia platform to express their expertise not only in text but truly engaging with other researchers. This initiative also helps African researchers connect their work beyond text with intangible emotions that project urgency and relevance for impact across Africa and the globe.”  
—Joy Owango, Director at TCC Africa

“We are excited that we can test this together and in partnership with Knowledge Futures Group and their multimedial collaborative platform PubPub. This partnership will empower African researchers to explore immediate communication of their research despite the COVID-19 lockdown. The results from this initiative will help us further understand the best COVID-19 response and intervention strategy for researchers across Africa.”
—Obasegun Ayodele, CTO at Vilsquare

PubPub and AfricArXiv share a passion for Open Science, enabling the sharing of interdisciplinary research, and community-led innovation. “AfricArXiv provides an invaluable outlet and dedicated collaboration space for African researchers seeking to communicate about their work quickly and effectively,” notes Heather Ruland Staines, Head of Partnerships for the Knowledge Futures Group. “PubPub is excited to host new preprint formats to help ensure that the work of African scholars is included in the valuable collaborations occurring to find a cure for and mitigate the effects of COVID-19, regardless of the language in which it is offered. We look forward to exploring these new mechanisms of scholarly communications together."

PubPub, the flagship project of the Knowledge Futures Group, launched in 2017. The open source platform supports dozens of peer-reviewed scholarly journals and books from university and society-based publishers, and nearly a thousand grassroots publications created and maintained by individual scholars and academic departments. PubPub socializes the process of knowledge creation by integrating conversation, annotation, and versioning into short and long-form digital publication.

About the Knowledge Futures Group
The Knowledge Futures Group, founded at MIT, is a community of technologists, information creators, and scholarly publishers that is committed to addressing a core set of pressing and complex issues within research-intensive institutions. The KFG’s goal is to develop open tools, infrastructure, and transparent business models that will bend the arc of knowledge creation and consumption toward equity and independence.

About AfricArXiv
AfricArxiv is a community-led digital archive for African research communication. We provide a non-profit platform to upload working papers, preprints, accepted manuscripts (post-prints), presentations, and data sets via our partner platforms. AfricArxiv is dedicated to foster research and collaboration among African scientists, enhance the visibility of African research output and to increase collaboration globally.