Sn 3 Ep 10: Reflections On The Open Science Strategy In Morocco With Hanae Lrhoul

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this podcast episode hosted by Joy Owango of TCC Africa, Professor Hanae Lrhoul shares her impactful journey through open science advocacy in Morocco and the Arab region. Starting as a librarian inspired by Canada’s academic libraries, she championed initiatives such as Morocco’s first institutional repository and coordinated regional projects to enhance access to scientific information.

Hanae discusses the transformative role of open science as both a professional mission and a human right, emphasizing its potential to empower researchers in the Global South. She highlights Morocco’s progress, including the launch of a National Open Science Strategy, the Moroccan Journal Portal, and alignment with UNESCO recommendations. The conversation touches on the importance of local language research, the inclusion of social sciences and humanities, and shifting focus from traditional impact metrics to societal relevance. Hanae also introduces the upcoming Open Africa initiative, involving 20 African countries in building collaborative research ecosystems. The episode explores how digital platforms and artificial intelligence are reshaping knowledge sharing and discoverability in Morocco. Overall, Hanae envisions a future where open science fosters inclusive, socially-driven research across Africa and the Arab world.

Here Are the Key Things to Look Out For:

1. National Open Science Strategy

Morocco has officially launched a national framework to make research outputs accessible, inclusive, and locally relevant. Professor Lrhoul explains how this strategy moves beyond compliance to foster a culture of sharing and trust in science.

2. Elevating Local Journals and Languages

The episode highlights ongoing efforts to increase the visibility of Moroccan journals, including those in Arabic and French, and why supporting research in all languages is essential for equity in global knowledge systems.

3. Collaborations Across Africa and the Arab World

Professor Lrhoul shares how Morocco is engaging in cross-regional partnerships, including the upcoming Open Africa initiative, to build collective research infrastructure and promote shared values in Open Science.

4. The Role of Libraries and AI in Research Access

From her early work as a librarian to her current research on AI applications in Open Science, Professor Lrhoul offers insights into how digital tools and libraries are critical to bridging the gap between knowledge and impact.

Episode Transcript

Intro:

 Welcome to Mazungumzo – African scholarly conversations, a podcast that highlights the perspectives of various stakeholders in academia, and research fields across Africa through open dialogue or mazungumzo on scholarly communication in Africa.

Joy Owango:

Welcome to Mazungumzo, African scholarly conversations, where we are joined by an expansive list of African policy makers, science communication specialists, innovators, and tertiary institution leads who contribute to this realm of scholarly and science communication.

I’m your host Joy Owango, the Executive Director of the Training Centre in Communication (TCC Africa), a capacity-building trust based at the University of Nairobi, Faculty of  Science and  Technology in Nairobi, Kenya.

Today we’re thrilled to welcome Professor Hanae Lrhoul to our show. Hanae Lrhoul is a Professor at the School of Information Sciences. Her research focuses on open science, scientometrics, competitive intelligence, and science mapping. She served as an advisor to the former Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, and Innovation, where she coordinated national open science policy.

Professor Lrhoul is the Chapter Lead of Creative Commons Morocco and Vice President of the International Association of Francophone Librarians (AIFBD). She also serves as an Associate Editor for the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and is a member of the EMEA DataCite Expert Group.

In our conversation, we’ll dive into the Open Science movement in Morocco – exploring recent breakthroughs, ongoing challenges, and how government bodies, academic institutions, and individual researchers are collaborating to move things forward.

A warm welcome to the podcast Professor Hanae! It’s a pleasure to have you with us today.

Hanae Lrhoul:

Thank you so much, Joy, for the kind invitation. I’m really happy to be here with you this morning, first, to share my experience with the TCC community, and second, because I admire the amazing work you’re doing to promote open access and the way you inspire so many across Africa, especially African women.

Joy Owango:

Thank you so much. So before we talk about your work, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hanae Lrhoul:

So open science, for me, has never been just a professional interest. It has become my life’s mission, from my research and policy work to my involvement with international communities, I’ve been committed to promoting open science over many years, not just new paradigm of scientific communication, but as a basic right. Access to knowledge shouldn’t be a privilege for me for two reasons. The first one, when research is publicly funded, it should be publicly available. And second, researchers from the south deserve the same opportunities to access, to share, to grow their impact on the global stage. So I’ve always believed in open research, and that belief has really shaped my whole journey from my work in academia to national level projects. I’ve been working on open access for about 15 years now. That includes setting up open repository in Moroccan universities, training librarians, raising awareness among researchers about why open access matters and how it can boost their visibility and impact. So I’ve experienced it, both successes and setbacks along the way. Changing a culture takes time, especially when leadership changes at universities and priorities shift sometimes. That’s why having the chance to work on open science at the national level was such a meaningful step for me, contributing to the development of Morocco National Open Science strategy as an advisor to the former Minister of Higher Education, scientific research and innovation. Professor Miravi marked a key step to finally bring sustainability to something we’ve been working towards for many years.

Joy Owango:

Okay. I can see you are really passionate about open science, and you’ve done quite some amazing developments, not only in Morocco, but also in the region. So you started as a researcher, and now you play a key role in shaping higher education and research. Policy in Morocco, what motivated this shift and what have been some of the biggest lessons along the way?

Hanae Lrhoul:

So I first stepped into this space as a librarian, not a professor. I began my journey in open science in 2009 when I was the director of the Mohammed Scott library of the University of Hassan II Casablanca, and have just returned from Canada, where I was really inspired by beautiful academic libraries and how actively they support researchers, students and open access to scientific information. So that experience made me realize how powerful libraries can be, not just for access to information, but as key driver of research. So when I came back, I had one clear ambition, or a dream, to give Moroccan researchers and students the same access to knowledge I saw abroad. I want them to succeed, and I knew that the open access to scientific information is the key. Little by little, that work, led me to bigger questions in the library, how research is evaluated, how we track and recognize scientific publication, and how we can build systems that make knowledge more open and more accessible. That’s really what motivates the shift in my path to begin research on open science and science mapping in the School of Information Sciences.

Joy Owango:

Okay. And with what, please continue.

Hanae Lrhoul:

Thank you joy, just talking about my experience in the Hassan II Casablanca in 2009 we subscribed to the first electronic database in Morocco. It was the first electronic database in the universities. We built also open access journal portals we love around information literacy, open access information sources, right also created in 2000 the first institutional repository. And that same year, I had the opportunity to coordinate a major European project called optimizing to scientific and technical information in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The objective of this project was to create a northern and we also run a large survey in the three countries. And we discovered something so important for this in North Africa, wasn’t financial or technological resources or resistance, it was simply a lack of awareness about its benefits. So this project made me realize how important it is to preserve , to promote our scientific work in Northern Africa and especially in Morocco, the limited visibility of our National Scientific production and on way to enhance the quality and dissemination of local scientific journals. So during my PhD thesis, I quality and impact of Moroccan journals, mainly medical Moroccan journals, with a particular focus on open access as a key strategy to enhance their visibility and align with international standards.

Joy Owango:

Okay, so what are the key policies or initiatives Morocco is implementing to strengthen research capacity and support for universities in producing high impact work.

Hanae Lrhoul:

So Morocco is currently undergoing a major transformation of its research ecosystem, and the Ministry of Higher Education has made its strategic priority to put scientific research as a core pillar of national development. And there’s a clear ambition to make research more impactful and relevant, focusing on real social challenges while also meeting international standards, and one of the central pillar of this transformation is investment in human capacity, human capital. This includes improving access to scientific research, enhancing PhD training, promoting international mobility and collaboration and finding. In research laboratories that addresses national priorities. These combined efforts aim to equip the next generation of young researchers, with the tools support and environment they need to thrive. And an important step in this direction is the creation of the Moroccan journal portal, managed by EMIST, the Moroccan Institute for scientific and technical information, and it brings together National Academic Journals the to in order to increase to enhance their visibility and also support journals editors in Morocco, there’s many print journals, so EMIST has a key role to create the electronic version and to enhance the visibility in the national portal. And I also as an associate editor of the directory of open access journal. I collaborate with several editor or researchers to help them improve the quality of their journal and connect with the international community. So I think we should move in a way of from the old publish or perish mindset. It’s not just about impact factor anymore. It’s not just about indexing in the international databases. We want the research that is socially relevant, economically useful and culturally connected. That means rethinking how we evaluate research, especially work done in Arabic or in other language, mainly publication in the social sciences and the humanities, which are still under represented in international databases. All of this, early shifts that we are doing, we are trying to build a research culture, that’s globally competitive, but also inclusive.

Joy Owango:

Fantastic. And I can see these are quite some really good developments that you’re making in open science in Morocco. And if you could take us through on top of what you’ve shared with us, is there any new information that you want to share with us about the current state of open science in Morocco, and what progress has been made? And right now, you’ve already shared with us the priority of the country, having research centers focusing on the interests and the needs of Morocco, digitizing all your print journals. So what is the current state as it is right now, and what is that priority that you’re looking at, what is the progress that is being made?

Hanae Lrhoul:

Of course, with pleasure joy, but open science Morocco has taken, actually a real step towards this this goal. It was one of the founding members of the unit UNESCO, recommendation, both of them, recommendation on open science and recommendation on open educational resources. We are also the Ministry of Higher Education. Took part in the ministerial meeting of the OCD Organization for Economic Cooperation development on making open science a reality. And it’s not just formal commitment. It’s a really strong political will to be in alignment with international standards, with UNESCO recommendation and with the publication of law. And the commitment is rooted in the idea that development, that knowledge should be open, inclusive and impactful, and that the news that I want to share with you is that at the national level, a key step would taken in October 2000 to 24 when the Ministry of Higher Education officially launched the National Open Science strategy, and this initiative focuses on main goal, the first one is to set  a National Open repository for research publication, research data, scientific journal, etc. The second, the second goal is to promote local research in all languages, in social science and the humanities, and build the culture of openness, collaboration and knowledge sharing between Moroccan researchers. So the key part of this strategy is the launch, as I told you, of the open Moroccan repository. And it’s centralized platform that brings together all the scientific output from Moroccan universities. And when I talk about all the scientific outputs. I’m talking about publication in Scopus, Web of Science, international, international database, but also, and mainly, all the publication in Moroccan national journals.

Joy Owango:

Okay, and so with those developments that are happening nationally, how is Morocco engaging with regional and global partners to advance open science and what opportunities exist for collaboration across Africa and the Arab world?

Hanae Lrhoul:

Open Science can only move forward if you work together locally and globally, and not only at the national level, so at global level, as I told you, Morocco is has aligned its national strategy with UNESCO recommendation with OCD principles on knowledge sharing. And this help us to adapt international best practices while adapting them to our local context, of course, and to truly advance open science, we also need to start research that respond to the real uses facing our region. That means encouraging projects that address African and Arab priorities and that aim to find concrete solutions to our problem. We are involved in collaborative research that explains open science, not just in Morocco, but across the African continent and the Arab region, mainly. And one important regional initiative that I want to share with you is open Africa, a project that we will launch in the next month. Open Africa is involving 20 African countries, and its goal is to create a collaborative and open ecosystem for research and higher education across the continent. So open Africa will focus on increasing the visibility of scientific production in the continent, build research capacity and promote academic excellence and scientific excellence of African researchers. We’ve also have the opportunity to organize, to host key regional events in Morocco, like the UNESCO conference on open science in the Arab region. It was a valuable moment to bring together researchers, librarians, policy makers across the Arab region. So this kind of event, I think, are so important to build collaboration and make sure our efforts are aligned, whether it’s about infrastructures or capacity building, and we will federate our efforts, because we have the same objectives to create regional open repositories and organize training for the researchers of the Region. This partnership, excuse me joy,

Joy Owango:

You’re saying the partnership across Africa,

Hanae Lrhoul:

And across the Arab world and beyond are more than just technical collaboration. They are both building something bigger, shared infrastructure, stronger connection and a louder voice for researchers from the global south, to enhance their visibility and their impact in the scientific international community. So I think in the end that open science is collective journey, and Morocco is proud to be part of a global community that believes in all open, inclusive and collaborative knowledge that we can share with the others in the Arab region or in Africa.

Joy Owango:

Fantastic. So with the new technologies that are coming up, and we have new and digital platforms and AI is changing how research is shared. What are the most exciting changes happening in Morocco’s research ecosystem today?

Hanae Lrhoul:

But today Morocco’s research system is going through a retransformation, especially when it comes to how we access and share knowledge, and one of the main priorities has been to improve access to scientific and technical information across universities, in the recent years, with the support the ministry, we have access to electronic databases, Electronic journal subscription, and this has opened the door to quality international research for students. And we have also like to create e-learning centers in all the universities of Morocco to promote open educational resources and online to give, to offer online courses to our students. And these centers are so important the gap between researchers and the Digital Learning Tools, because we should also train our professor researchers about these digital tools, and at the same time, especially, we are talking about artificial intelligence. At the School of Information Sciences ,we are leading research and reflection on how AI can be applied in the field of open science, how these can improve discoverability, content classification, access scientific information. So it’s a main research topic in our in the information in the School of Information Sciences, and all these efforts are helping us to shape more connected and transparent research environment in Morocco.

Joy Owango:

Fantastic. And as we wind up, if we look ahead, what do you hope Morocco’s higher education and research landscape will look like?

Hanae Lrhoul:

Good question. Looking ahead, I hope Morocco we have a research ecosystem that is open inclusive, will connect work, but still focused on local needs. So I imagine universities as a hub of innovation and public engagement, places where open access is the norm and where researchers have the tools supports information that they need to make meaningful work. So we need to move beyond the idea of passive researchers, passive consumer of information. Instead, we must empower them to be an active producer of information, people who generate knowledge that respond to the real challenges of our society. And this also means that we need socially responsible universities and designing policy that encourage cultures to contribute to science, not just for their career, but for the collective progress. In that future, I hope we see recognition for research published in Arabic, stronger support for social science, humanities evaluation system that reward meaningful just index outputs. We need to focus on qualitative approach. That’s value of collaboration,

Joy Owango:

Fantastic. I think that is a really nice way to end this podcast. Thank you so much, and it’s amazing work that you’re doing in Morocco and also in the Arab region. You’re one of the respected stakeholders when it comes to open science, and it is such an honor to have you on our show. Thank you so much, Hanae.

Outro:

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