Africa is viewed as a consumer of the world’s knowledge production. A significant factor influencing
this status is the low research output, with the main contributor to this status being minimum access
to scholarly content to support research. Stellenbosch University, a leading research institution on the
African continent, is committed to contributing to changing this status quo through the distribution of its
own research output utilizing open sources. Given the challenges that have plagued Africa in developing
processes for the distribution of their research, Stellenbosch University has developed the African Open
Access Repository Initiative (AOARI) which uses open source software for two platforms that support the
‘green’ and ‘gold’ route to sharing scholarly literature: Ubuntu is used as the operating system, DSpace
is used for its repository and Open Journal Systems for its publication platform. It is anticipated that
AOARI will be the bridge that facilitates the sharing of research output and nurtures a culture of research
production in Africa.