The Coalition for Open Access Publishing of Public Health in Africa (COPPHA) is a collaborative effort spearheaded by the West and Central African Research and Education Network (WACREN) in partnership with PublicHealth.Africa (PHA), AFREhealth, the West African Institute of Public Health (WAIPH), Peoples-Praxis, and the Somali Health Action Journal. These organisations are marking a significant leap forward in Africa’s scholarly communication landscape. This innovative initiative integrates a preprint repository and a peer review system tailored to address the unique challenges faced by researchers and public health professionals across the continent. It aims to provide a transparent and inclusive environment for scholarly publishing.
At the heart of this initiative are two critical infrastructures developed by WACREN in the AfricaConnect3 project:
- The BAOBAB repository provides a preprint platform for researchers to share their findings promptly, ensuring rapid dissemination, visibility of their work, and the opportunity for valuable feedback.
- The PublishNow Review Platform complements this by facilitating open peer review of preprints. Reviews are publicly accessible, and reviewers can disclose their identities. This transparency fosters accountability, enhances the quality of reviews, and encourages a more collaborative academic dialogue.