 A Primer for Higher Education in disseminating Management Research Data Arnold Mwanzu Rodney Malesi

Open Access holds vast benefits for researchers, institutions, nations and society as a whole. It brings increased visibility, usage and impact for research. There is growing evidence to show that countries also benefit because Open Access increases the impact of the research in which they invest public money. The sphere of management research is growing tremendously, hence an increase in the knowledge pool. As for universities in Africa, there is still a need of communicating management research and making it accessible to all interested stakeholders. This paper will endeavor to showcase the benefits of open access movement in communicating management practices, while providing solutions to universities on how to engage in this movement.

 Open access is defined as free availability of e-resources, permitting access without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself.  According to OSI (2005), the term ‘Open Access’ was first properly defined at a meeting in Budapest of a variety of open access advocates (even though at the time they didn’t all use the term open access yet), brought together by the Open Society Institute in early December 2001

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It is vital that Management Research findings which subsequently become new knowledge give an impact on the managerial practice, this is easily achievable if Open access movement is embraced by Authors and researchers of the same Direct Benefits It brings increased visibility to Management Research findings, usage and impact for management research.; Upward mobility for researchers

Gold Open AccessGreen Open Access Researcher submits an article to publisher Author deposits an article either before or after publication into an Open Access repository Publisher makes the article freely available on publication Repository makes copies available on publication or after an embargo period Cost of publication covered by a one-off fee paid by the author – “author-pays” fee Self-archiving Gold VS Green

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 The campaign for open access is on course globally and there even exists numerous declarations and statements by various groups during conferences and conventions that further contribute to the understanding of open access, Such as:  "Access to Research Publications: Universities UK Position Statement,";  "Australian Research Information Infrastructure Committee Open access Statement,";  Group of eight's "Statement on open access to scholarly information  "IFLA Statement on Open Access to Scholarly Literature and Research Documentation,";

 OA serves the interests of many groups i.e.  Micro & Small business:. OA accelerates not only research but also solved problems, and informed decisions that benefit business enterprises  Authors: demonstrably increases the visibility and impact of their work.  Readers: barrier-free access to the literature  Teachers and students: eliminates economic barriers to information  Libraries: librarians aim to provide a wide variety of information to users, beyond subscription limits  Universities: OA increases the visibility of their faculty and research

(Five staff) 20-35yrs (Seven staff) 25-30yrs (Four staff) 30-35yrs There is a wide distribution of the open access movement in Europe and North America more than the Sub-Saharan Africa

The image below indicates a low distribution of open access movement in Africa

Faster and wider access to journals speeds up the research and discovery process, thereby increasing returns to investment in R&D and potentially reduces the time and cost involved for a given outcome while also improves the efficiency of R&D o OA introduces ‘accessibility’ and ‘efficiency’ parameters into calculating ROI to Research and Development (R&D) initiatives of Small and Medium enterprises.

Free flow of information is essential to bridging the knowledge gaps between privileged and under privileged Businesses thus promoting economic empowerment QUESTION: Do I really need information/management research findings for Small/Micro business to grow? ANSWER: Irrespective of the philosophical underpinnings of open access, the ultimate goal is to share information and knowledge for a better society for the growth and development of society