20 years ago, publishers and the WHO collaborated to provide subsidized access to health research around the globe. In 2021, Research4Life manages one of the world's largest collections of research in science, agriculture and the environment.

Next, Research4Life plans a push for access to publishing too.

“We set up a task force last year to look at ways in which Research4Life can provide support not just in the context of access to knowledge, but also access to publishing opportunity – to provide skills to researchers, and crucially, support for their institutional librarians to help them understand the vagaries of the open access system and understand how to navigate that whole process,” explains Andrea Powell, Outreach & Publisher coordinator, Research4Life, STM Association.

In Africa, open access to global research networks is leading to local solutions and local change, notes Gracian Chimwaza, Research4Life Executive Council member and founding and executive director of the Information Training and Outreach Center for Africa.

“We look at the challenges that we have, be it in agriculture, be it in innovation in the environment, be it in technology itself, the solutions are really coming from the Africans themselves and those from the developing world. They work locally to address the problems locally,” Chimwaza tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.