IEEE Workshops Boost Publishing Access for East African Researchers

IEEE workshops in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda trained 120+ researchers on academic publishing, with targeted discounts and digital library access advancing local innovation.

In February 2023, IEEE held workshops across Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda for researchers and students, attracting over 120 participants total. Sessions covered academic publishing processes, IEEE publication outlets, research integrity, and the IEEE Xplore Digital Library—where more than 7 million technical documents are available. The initiative specifically offered Kenyan authors a 50% discount on article processing charges and free access to open access journals for researchers in Rwanda and Uganda.

The workshops address documented gaps in publishing output for the region: IEEE notes that researchers in Uganda typically present papers at conferences but rarely publish in journals. This contrasts with IEEE’s support for 50+ Kenyan universities through the Library and Information Services Consortium and discounted Xplore subscriptions for 16 Ugandan institutions and one Rwandan university.

By improving skills in literature search, research evaluation, and ethical publishing, these workshops directly support local innovation in health and sustenance sectors where scientific knowledge access is critical. Better publishing practices could accelerate solutions for regional challenges, such as disease management or agricultural resilience.

The impact remains unquantified, and publishing output in the three countries still lags behind other developing nations—though baseline comparisons are unspecified. Next steps include tracking whether participants increase journal publications after the workshops, as this would measure real progress toward closing the knowledge gap.

Source: IEEE Spectrum