Growing recognition of the need to share research findings

First India's CSIR, then CGIAR's ICRISAT network and now South Africa's University of Pretoria have recently adopted (or in the case of CSIR, strongly recommended) a requirement for their researchers to make all publications arising from their work openly accessable to all. These institutional mandates show a recognition by developing/emerging country organisations that for their research to become part of the global knowledge base and accelerate the rate of finding solutions to urgent problems, free access to their research output is essential.

This news comes just as new charts showing the growth of world-wide open access mandates has been published by Alma Swan on her blog, Optimal Scholarship. The chart of half-yearly increases, shown below, clearly indicates that a better understanding of the need for sharing research information is taking place, and developing countries are joining Harvard, MIT, Wellcome Trust, and over 80 other seats of learning in accelerating the speed of research distribution and thus making best use of funding. For a full list of open access policies, see the ROARmap database.

eIFL survey of institutional repositories

eIFL has set up a study to establish the extent to which developing and transitional countries have established institutional repositories. It is part of a cooperative programme between eIFL.net, the University of Kansas Libraries, the EU's DRIVER project and Key Perspectives Ltd., and aims at creating an inventory of current digital repository activities in these regions, at both the infrastructure and services level.

The results of the survey will provide information on the numbers of IRs already in existence, and also on the services they are providing for their research communities.

In order to arrive at a realistic picture, the more organisations that participate the better, so if you are associated in any way with a repository at your organisation, we hope you will take part. To reach the Survey,click here.

Attention all scholarly OA-waverers

Attention all scholars, confused about the Open Access opportunities now open to you! Here is a clear outline of the current situation and the benefits it brings to you personally as well as to your institute or university department. Here is the link to the article made freely available in University World News.

Written by Leslie Chan, of the University of Toronto, Director of Bioline International and Trustee of the Electronic Publishing Trust for Development, he knows all there is to know about Open Access and you can depend on the information he gives. Directed originally to Canadian scholars, it is applicable to the global academic community. Don’t miss it! Pass it on to your co-waverers!

OA journal focussing on emerging health threats

A new Open Access journal: Emerging Health Threats Journal will be of particular interest to medical research, healthcare professionals and librarians, especially in the developing regions of the world where the effects of conflict and emerging new infectious diseases are prevalent. To quote from the journal’s website, ‘Emerging health threats are the myriad of new and evolving health issues that society faces on a daily basis, including new infectious diseases, chemical and environmental hazards, radiation exposure, disasters, and cultural and population health issues. One issue of the Emerging Health Threats Monitor alone includes topics as diverse as the effects of climate change on developing countries, the effects of traffic pollution on children, the fatal impact of environmental arsenic, and the outbreak of Rift Valley fever in the Comoros Islands.’

To access the journal, click here.