Heightened Activity on Greater Open Access to Scientific Research for Disadvantaged Nations
4 Dec 2006
A diverse coalition of scientists from five nations has produced a set of "guidelines" by which poorer nations would have free, open access (OA) to the findings of publicly funded research.
Representing South Africa, India, Ethiopia, China, and Brazil, participants from a November 2-3 workshop in India produced an agreed-upon set of guidelines that would foster greater open access to materials such as peer-reviewed scientific or other professional journal articles--particularly online.
SciDev.Net reported that, despite the consensus among workshop participants regarding the need for greater open access, spirited discussions occurred over how to engage national governments in adopting more robust OA policies. Nevertheless, out of the workshop emerged a policy that encourages governments "to require all publicly funded research published in peer-reviewed journals [to] be deposited in an institutional...database" upon the publication's acceptance, making that "a condition for research funding for any papers partly or fully funded by the government."
The Open Society Institute sponsored the workshop in early November.
Source: Noronha, F. Scientists push open access for developing nations. SciDev.Net. November 29, 2006. [Online]
Go to website
|
|
Related Categories
|
