The Coalition for Open Access Publishing of Public Health in Africa (COPPHA), in collaboration with Peoples-Praxis and WACREN, recently concluded a five-week Peer Review Course to enhance the quality of peer review within Africa’s open-access publishing landscape. The course provided a blended learning experience, combining asynchronous modules on the Peoples-Praxis training platform, live Zoom sessions, and active forum engagement.

Participation and Completion Rates
The course attracted 1,098 participants from 40 countries, with 651 accessing the materials. Despite the program’s rigour, 203 participants completed the course and earned certificates of completion.

Resource Accessibility and Engagement
WACREN’s BAOBAB Open Access Repository was pivotal in archiving all course materials as Open Educational Resources (OERs) within the COPPHA Community. Each resource was assigned an Archival Resource Key (ARK) for seamless sharing. These materials have garnered over 1,600 views and 1,500 downloads, indicating substantial participant engagement.

Future Initiatives
Building on this success, COPPHA is fostering a community of practice among public health professionals dedicated to quality peer review in open-access journals across Africa and beyond. 

The upcoming course on Open Publishing, focusing on preprints and open review, is scheduled for January 2025. This four-week program will cover:

  • Open Access Publishing 
  • Open Reviewing with Case Studies 
  • Posting a Preprint 
  • Posting an Open Review 

Participants will gain practical skills in open publishing, engage with case studies, and utilise platforms like BAOBAB and PublishNow to post preprints and open reviews. The course is led by experienced public health researchers to build a community of practice in innovative peer-reviewing and publishing, aligning with broader efforts to promote high-quality, open-access publishing across the continent.

This initiative underscores COPPHA’s commitment to advancing open science and collaborative research in Africa. It leverages platforms such as BAOBAB and PublishNow to support equitable publishing practices and accelerate research dissemination.

For more information and to apply for the upcoming course, please visit COPPHA Peer Review Course – LIBSENSE.

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