UbuntuNet Alliance is excited to announce a year-long strategic partnership with Crossref, a global leader in scholarly metadata and digital identifiers. This collaboration is part of the recently launched UbuntuNet Alliance Partnership Programme, which was recently launched to create beneficial opportunities between the Alliance community and organizations invested in strengthening research and education across Africa.
About the UbuntuNet Alliance Partnership Programme
As the Regional Research and Education Network (RREN) for Eastern and Southern Africa, UbuntuNet Alliance connects 16 National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), with 14 already connected to the regional backbone. Through these NRENs, the Alliance serves more than 3,000 institutions and over 4 million students, researchers, and academics.
The UbuntuNet Alliance Partnership Programme offers organizations like Crossref a unique opportunity to engage directly with this vast community throughout the year. This programme enables partners to:
- Participate in the UbuntuNet-Connect Conference, the Alliance’s flagship annual event
- Involvement in capacity-building webinars and training workshops
- Visibility through newsletters, and social media channels
- Direct engagement with decision-makers from across the research and education ecosystem in Africa
This programme is designed not only to give partners visibility, but to actively support the NREN community by giving them access and facilitating the development and implementation of services that can accelerate scientific collaboration, innovation, and open access on the continent.
UbuntuNet Alliance and Crossref: A Shared Vision for Open Science
The partnership with Crossref builds on this foundation with a focused commitment to advancing open science practices and supporting institutions in the region that are either already using, or have the potential to benefit from Crossref’s metadata and digital identifier infrastructure.
Through this partnership, UbuntuNet Alliance and Crossref will:
- Host a dedicated webinar (to be announced soon) exploring how Crossref can support research visibility, citation indexing, and academic integrity for institutions in the region.
- Deliver a high-impact presentation at UbuntuNet-Connect 2025, where Crossref will engage directly with NREN leaders, institutional representatives, librarians, and IT professionals to explore avenues for collaboration and support.
This partnership reflects Crossref’s ongoing global mission to make research outputs easy to find, cite, link, assess, and reuse and acknowledges UbuntuNet Alliance’s central role in reaching the research and education institutions that need these services most.
Why This Matters
With Open Science gaining momentum globally, it is essential for African institutions to be included in and benefit from international infrastructure, standards, and initiatives. UbuntuNet Alliance acts as a bridge between research and education service providers and NRENs, helping to reduce fragmentation and boost the visibility and impact of African research.
By partnering with Crossref, UbuntuNet Alliance is enabling institutions across Eastern and Southern Africa to improve research discoverability, promote institutional visibility, and participate more fully in the global research community.
Join the Movement
With the Partnership programme, UbuntuNet Alliance is open to additional strategic partnerships with organizations that share our commitment to transforming research and education in Africa. If you are a service provider or stakeholder interested in engaging with our dynamic and growing community, we invite you to explore the UbuntuNet Alliance Partnership Programme.
For partnership inquiries, contact: info@ubuntunet.net
Learn more: www.ubuntunet.net/uc2025