P13 - Building capacity in research communication for early career researchers in developing countries

Andy Nobes, Programme Officer, Research Development and support, INASP

In developing countries, researchers face the same pressure to publish as their counterparts in developed nations, but they often don't have access to the resources, information, training, and support networks that are common in high-income countries. As a result, they are often unable to publish their research in good quality journals, hindering the impact of their work, and limiting North-South and South-South research sharing and collaboration. INASP's AuthorAID project supports 17,000 researchers in 174 countries to publish and communicate their research through massive open online courses (MOOCs), smaller intensive online courses and online mentoring. An impact study conducted in May 2017 compared these three interventions to determine their effect on capacity development by surveying 1,128 participants from 91 countries. The results indicate positive impact on confidence to publish and publications resulting from of all the interventions, but they also revealed mitigating factors of gender, age, location, and previous experience. Overall, the results show that all interventions produced measurable publication outputs, wider-ranging publishing activity and perceived impact on improvement of skills and knowledge.