#maryabukutsa took a holistic approach. Research was never about "publishing." It was about changing the knowledge landscape to deeply integrate the benefits of #AIVs across the ecosystem: Farmers, policy makers, students, etc. #openscience #AFricanResearch #AfricanScience #academicsky
#maryabukutsa couldn't access her papers in #highimpact journals bc they were paywalled. Paying to make them #openaccess was not possible. After that, she stopped publishing in paywalled journals. #openscience #academicsky #agriculture #AfricanResearch #africanscience
#maryabukutsa - "If you're asking me to review regularly, how is my research not relevant to your readership? I may be wrong but that was my own conclusion." #openscience #academicsky #agriculture #AfricanResearch #africanscience
#maryabukutsa #gatekeeping high impact journals include:
1. Lab is not "trusted"
2. Crop is not important (weed)
3. Topic not relevant (despite asking her to review!)
#openscience #agriculture #AfricanResearch #academicsky
#maryabukutsa #citation explosion over time reflect the USEFULNESS of thhere work -- as opposed to citations as a means of driving recognition/awards/prestige. She views that citation growth as a sign that the work is useful for others. #openscience #academicsky #agriculture #Africanresearch
#maryabukutsa advocacy has been the source of driving her outputs -- publications, speaking engagements, conferences, books, theses etc. Openness enabled her to have much broader reach -- this drove her #scicomm work (not the other way around). #openscience #academicsky #agriculture #Africanresearch
#maryabukutsa saw the value of advocacy as a way of highlighting the urgency of science to concretely improve lives. Networking/advocacy to raise other voices. #openscience #academicsky #agriculture #Africanresearch
#maryabukutsa embraced #openaccess from day 1 - "I never looked back. I became an advocate for open access/research starting in 2010."
#academicsky #openscience
#maryabukutsa #openaccess journals might be a better fit to ensure #broaderimpact and reach. African Journal of Food, Ag, Nutrition and Development (AJFAND) was one of the first #openscience journals in the continent. #academicsky #agriculture
#maryabukutsa publishing was still a !! but she experienced bias-rejection often. European journal response: we can't publish bc we can't trust the lab where the work was done. So pushed to African journal instead. Overwhelming response to her work (even from #globalnorth) #academicsky #openscience
#maryabukutsa always had the bigger picture in mind -- inclusion of global partners, media, and policy makers enabled a shift to active cultivation of #AfricanIndigenousVegetables on the continent. #openscience #broaderimpact to save lives
All along the way, #maryabukutsa had #GlobalNorth researchers/funders told her #AfricanIndigenousVegetables were weeds, not healthy, and even poisonous. Her response: If they're poisonous, the entire African population would be dead. #openscience #publicpolicy #STFU
#maryabukutsa pulled media into her work early to ensure that as many as possible in the #generalpublic had access to her findings and their implications. #openscience #greaterimpact
#maryabukutsa: #inclusion = anyone who cared about preserving/using #AIVs -- researchers, funders, NGOs, restaurants, grocers, food supply experts -- global north and south. Included media as !! to raising profile of the work: critical to OPENING access to this knowledge #openscience
Once #MaryAbukutsa demonstrated (on her own dime!) that these vegetables were game changing for #nutritionsecurity, Global North researchers (from USAID no less) came in and took her research to use it elsewhere, boxing her out and not including her. #gatekeeping #openscience #inclusion
"AIVs ares considered weeds so we will not be funding your work." 50% of global north funders rejected #AIV $$. She pushed back w/ her own funds: they're not weeds, they're vegetables and they're going to contribute to food security. Later they $-ed her. #MaryAbukutsa #openscience #inclusion
