This document provides information about INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications) and its programs that support researchers in lower and middle income countries. It summarizes that INASP provides access to journals and ebooks, runs the Journals Online program to improve accessibility of developing country research, supports evidence-informed policymaking training, and founded AuthorAID which provides research training, mentoring, and resources to researchers globally.

1. AuthorAID:
A global network
supporting
researchers
in lower and
middle income
countries to
publish and
communicate
their research

3. INASP (International Network for the
Availability of Scientific Publications)
• Access to e-resources
• Evidence-Informed Policymaking
• Journals Online
• Country pages
• AuthorAID
www.inasp.info
www.authoraid.info

4. Access to research
• 50,000+ journals and 20,000+ e-books from 50+ publishers
• available via INASP, up to 90% discounts
• 800 institutions across Africa
• Universities, research institutes, teaching hospitals,
government departments
• 1.9 million students & researchers
www.inasp.info/en/training-resources/open-access-resources/
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Kenya Library & Information
Services Consortium
58,000 journals/books in 129
institutions

6. Journals Online
• The Journals Online project aims to improve the accessibility and
visibility of developing-country research.
• Provides a cost-effective and secure platform for online journals,
along with advice, resource guides and links to suitable technologies
and hosting organizations.
• There are currently 357 journals across the JOLs, with over 39,500
articles of which 95% are open access full text. The accessibility and
popularity of the JOLs projects have a seen a steady increase in use
with over 34.5 million downloads since 2007.

7. Journals Online
Managed by INASP:
• Bangladesh Journals Online: www.banglajol.info
• Latin America Journals Online: www.lamjol.info (Central America)
• Mongolia Journals Online: www.mongoliajol.info
• Nepal Journals Online: www.nepjol.info
• Sri Lanka Journals Online: www.sljol.info
Managed in-country:
• African Journals Online: www.ajol.info
• Philippines Journals Online: www.philjol.info
• Vietnam Journals Online: www.vjol.info.vn

8. INASP (International Network for the
Availability of Scientific Publications)
• Evidence-Informed Policymaking
• Journals Online
• Access to e-resources
• Country pages
• AuthorAID

9. Evidence-Informed Policymaking
3-year VakaYiko programme launched with the
understanding that the routine use of research to
inform policy requires at least three factors to be in
place:
• Individuals with the skills to access, evaluate and use
research evidence
• Processes for handling research evidence in policy
making departments
• A wider enabling environment of engaged citizens,
media and civil society

10. 1. Introduction to Evidence- Informed
Policy Making including the role of
evidence in policymaking process;
different kinds of evidence, who uses
them and why
2. A Complete Search
Strategy including how to access
different types evidence in developing
countries, using networks, and
searching databases effectively
3. Assessing Evidence including
analysing source, credibility, bias and
quality, as well as basic principles of
research methodology
4. Communicating Evidence including
tailoring messages to decision makers,
writing policy briefs, preparing
infographics and oral presentations
www.inasp.info/en/work/vakayiko/eipm-toolkit/

12. AuthorAID
• AuthorAID was launched in supports researchers
in lower and middle income countries through:
• Free online training in research and proposal writing
• Mentoring support
• Networking and collaboration
• Embedding research and proposal writing within
institutions
• Addressing gender inequalities in academic
institutions.

14. INASP (International Network for the
Availability of Scientific Publications)
• Evidence-Informed Policymaking
• Journals Online
• Access to e-resources
• Country pages
• AuthorAID

15. What researchers tell us:
The AuthorAID discussion forum has over 2,000 members from around the
world.
In 2016 we invited an informal straw poll of members to ask them what is
their biggest challenge in publishing or communicating their research. The
top ten answers were as follows:
1. Lack of research funding
2. Writing in the English language
3. Identifying the most suitable, genuine journals
4. Delays with peer review
5. Getting their papers accepted though peer review
6. Publication costs (such as Article Processing Charges)
7. Lack of mentors, or people to check and review their manuscripts
8. Academic writing style
9. Poor or insufficient laboratory equipment
10. Difficulty communicating academic research to policy makers and the public

16. Discussion and Support
The AuthorAID discussion group is hosted on
Dgroups and everybody is welcome to join the
conversation:
(over 1,000 members)
https://dgroups.org/groups/authoraiddiscussion

17. Online Training
• Free online open courses in research and proposal writing
• Interactive and moderated. All course completers receive
a certificate.
• 6-week or 8-week courses
• Run twice a year (in April and October)
• Also offer annually in Spanish through partnership with
Latindex.
• Next course: April 18th to June 12
• http://www.authoraid.info/en/e-learning/

18. Online Training
• Literature reviews
• Publishing ethics
• How to write an academic paper
• Getting published
• How to write a grant proposal
• Predatory journals

19. Think. Check. Submit.
Think. Check. Submit. is a
campaign to help
researchers identify
trusted journals for their
research. It is a simple
checklist researchers can
use to assess the
credentials of a journal or
publisher.
www.Thinkchecksubmit.org

20. Mentoring & Collaboration
One of the main challenges that early-career researchers face is the
shortage of mentors: senior researchers and more experienced peers
who can provide them with advice on getting their research written
and published.
• The mentoring system helps pair experienced mentors with researchers who
need support at any stage of their writing project.
• Mentoring relationships can be short or long-term
• Support is available in a wide range of tasks: such as planning and writing an
article, editing and interpreting data, writing grant proposals, and career
planning
• The AuthorAID mentoring platform currently has over 2,000 mentors and
mentees.

21. AuthorAID Mentoring
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24. Current mentors
United States 51 Brazil 5
India 47 Germany 5
United Kingdom 35 Ethiopia 4
Canada 13 Malaysia 4
Nigeria 12 Pakistan 4
Bangladesh 9 Uganda 4
Australia 7 Sri Lanka 3
Egypt 7 Mexico 3
Nepal 6 Vietnam 3
Sweden 6 Netherlands 3
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Total Mentors: 290

25. Active Mentees
Nigeria 117 Bangladesh 29
India 65 Sri Lanka 23
Kenya 58 Rwanda 23
Pakistan 57 Cameroon 20
Ghana 45 Zimbabwe 19
Tanzania 43 Zambia 15
Ethiopia 38 Egypt 14
Uganda 38 South Africa 11
Nepal 33 Mexico 10
Indonesia 30 Philippines 10
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27. AuthorAID Resource Library
• Over 700 items
• Over 500 in English; others in Arabic, Chinese, French,
Persian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese
• Presentations, articles, web links, and more
• Many aspects of research communication represented
• Can search by topic, resource type, or language
Would you like to run your own research-writing or
grant proposal-writing course? We have entire course
packs, and facilitator notes.

29. “As a group of female academics at the University of Dodoma, we had
noticed inequalities in our institution. We noticed that of the 694 current
academic staff members, only 175 are female and there are no women
in a senior leadership or College principal positions.”

30. Why we now focus more on supporting women
researchers:
In many countries women face many more challenges in
pursuing research and academic careers than men.
– Family roles and expectations
– Policies and practices fail to address women’s needs
– Obstacles in completing field research
– ‘Leaky pipeline’
The barriers and biases that sustain gender inequality also
prevent the creation and use of knowledge that can enable
inclusive, just and sustainable development.

31. Gender ‘toolkit’
www.inasp.info/gendertoolkit

32. Building capacity of institutions to
run training in research writing
• Institutionalise training in research writing in 10 institutions in 4
countries: Ghana, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Vietnam (5-year
programme)
• Supporting in training trainers to run face to face workshops;
• Support in developing and facilitating online courses;
• Building capacity for mentoring and supporting writing at an
institutional level.
“Immediately after taking the online course, I started putting my data
together and started writing a manuscript from my PhD data. I could
not have been better equipped to take on the task”
–Academic, Tanzanian Fisheries Research Institute

33. Grants and Funding
• Workshop grants provide opportunities for experienced
researchers to hold training in research writing, proposal writing
or communicating evidence to policymakers in their own
institution.
• Travel grants provide early career academics the chance to
present their research at an international conference, to network
with other researchers and to learn from leaders in heir field.

34. Thank you!
• Jennifer Chapin, Programme Manager,
AuthorAID
• jchapin@inasp.info
• Questions?