Call for oral presentations, workshops, and posters.
Open Science Conference in the Global South. Rabat 2026.
“Capacity Building to Enhance Scientific Visibility and Impact”
The fourth edition of the Open Science in the Global South conference will be held in Rabat, at the National Library of the Kingdom of Morocco, from November 23 to 26, 2026. This edition takes place at a time when open science is no longer merely a normative goal, but a strategic lever for transforming research ecosystems and ensuring the equitable circulation of knowledge and expertise.
In the Global South, and in Africa in particular, open science raises issues closely linked to scientific visibility, cognitive justice, and the social impact of research. At the intersection of public policy, dissemination mechanisms, and training initiatives, the implementation of open science raises questions about the practical conditions for its adoption, sustainability, and integration into local institutional contexts.
Under the theme “Capacity Building for Scientific Visibility and Impact,” the central theme of this edition is rooted in a firm conviction: the visibility and impact of research depend as much on the availability of content as on the existence of the human, technical, and political capacities needed to manage and promote it. Capacity building is an essential prerequisite for the adoption and implementation of open science. It cannot be reduced to mere technical support, nor can it be relegated to a secondary aspect of open science policies. On the contrary, it is a structural prerequisite for success.
The conference will feature plenary sessions, oral presentations, workshops, and poster sessions. Submissions may take the form of research papers, experience reports, comparative analyses, case studies, or collaborative projects, with the aim of shedding light on the challenges of open science related to capacity building in African contexts.
Thematic Areas
This call for proposals focuses on open science capacity-building initiatives, organized around the following themes and subthemes:
Development of infrastructure and support services : Centers of expertise, support platforms, data services, libraries and documentation services, journal or data support units, and resource-sharing mechanisms.
Skills Development and Training : Design of training plans, summer schools, MOOCs, certification programs, training of trainers, support for doctoral students and supervisors, and innovative pedagogical approaches for open science.
Communities of practice and networks : Networks of experts, networks of trainers, communities of open science ambassadors, North–South and South–South collectives.
Tools, resources, and methodologies for capacity building : Development or adaptation of tools (guides, GDPR frameworks, GDPR compliance checklists, dashboards, indicators, training platforms), and systems for monitoring and evaluating skill development.
Inclusion, Equity, and Cognitive Justice in Capacity Building : Approaches that address inequalities in access to infrastructure, languages, funding, and skills; strategies to reduce disparities between regions or insitutions
Proposals will be reviewed by the scientific committee based on the following criteria: relevance to the conference theme, originality of the contribution, and significance of the results or lessons learned.
