Digital publishing and the new era of digital divide

Abstract

The scarcity of literature in educational institutions is a serious problem in different parts of the world, particularly in developing countries where there is a real need for better access to information. It is vitally important that the technological gap between developing and developed countries is narrowed, and scientific journals have a key role to play in ensuring that this
takes place. This paper aims to assess and evaluate Digital Publishing (Open Access Publishing and Open Source Models) as a proposed solution to avoid
restrictions on accessing scientific knowledge, particularly in the developing countries. More importantly, the paper outlines opportunities and challenges of open-access publishing for the developing countries. However, oftentimes there are mismatches between what the ‘donor’ countries can reasonably offer and what the developing countries can implement.