Open access is the way forward in southern Africa

Adopting a regional approach to science (and higher education) in Southern Africa (see 'Southern Africa adopts a regional approach to science') is a very good initiative.

May I suggest that this initiative start with the major higher educational and research institutions in these countries setting up interoperable open access archives thus enabling researchers in these countries to share their research findings freely at very low cost?

If they need help, it is readily available from the University of Southampton. They provide the necessary e-prints software absolutely free.

Among the institutions that support open access wholeheartedly are the Welcome Trust, US National Institutes of Health, CERN, Indian Institute of Science, the Open Society Institute, and of course Southampton University.