A community-led preprint repository for African researchers, established in 2018, providing a publishing venue for African scholarship in multiple African languages alongside English and French.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A Nigerian sociology researcher posts a Yoruba-language preprint on AfricArXiv with an English-language summary.
Is an instance
A funder accepts AfricArXiv deposits as compliant green OA.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
Excluding AfricArXiv preprints from citation tracking on the grounds of language.
Not an instance
Requiring authors to deposit only in Northern-based servers, ignoring AfricArXiv.

Editorial commentary

AfricArXiv was founded in 2018 as a volunteer-led initiative and partners with the Center for Open Science (OSF), Zenodo, ScienceOpen and PubPub for infrastructure. It accepts preprints across disciplines, supports multilingual scholarship (including Yoruba, Hausa, Swahili, Arabic) and prioritises African research priorities. It is a key infrastructure example cited in knowledge-equity discussions for its emphasis on African ownership, multilingualism, and community governance independent of commercial publishers.

References

africarxiv.pubpub.org. Obanya P, Onie S 'AfricArXiv: The pan-African open-access portal' 2020.

Also known as

Africa arXiv · AfricArXiv Preprints

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="AfricArXiv"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/africarxiv" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/africarxiv",
  "name": "AfricArXiv",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/africarxiv",
  "description": "A community-led preprint repository for African researchers, established in 2018, providing a publishing venue for African scholarship in multiple African languages alongside English and French.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/knowledge-equity#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/africarxiv",
  "sameAs": [
    "Africa arXiv",
    "AfricArXiv Preprints"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:22:56",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

Referenced across the research world

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