A National Open Access Policy for
Developing Countries
The [country-name] Government/Government Department expects the authors of
papers reporting publicly-funded research to maximise the accessibility, usage
and applications of their findings. To this end:
As a condition for research funding, the [country-name] Government:
(1) requires electronic copies of any research papers that have been
accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, and are supported in
whole or in par by Government funding, to be deposited in an institutional
digital repository [IR] immediately upon acceptance for publication;
(2) encourages Government Grant Holders to provide Open Access to
their deposited papers immediately upon deposit;
(3) encourages Government Grant Holders to publish in a suitable Open
Access Journal where one exists.
What are the benefits to scientific research, research institutes,
universities, authors and readers?
What are the benefits of Open Access to [country-name]?
First, [country-name's] research will be more accessible to global
researchers, hence better known and more widely used and cited. The
prestige of [country-name] researchers will increase significantly. Second,
all [country-name] research will be open to all [country-name]
entrepreneurs and the general public with Internet access. This will be
beneficial both commercially and culturally. Third, access, usage and
citation data on this research will increasingly become available for analysis
to help shape researchers', institutions' and nations' strategies and policies.
What are the benefits of Open Access to researchers?
As authors, researchers benefit because their research papers are given a
much wider dissemination and can be read without restriction by anyone
with Internet access. This increases the impact of their research. Indeed,
evidence is accumulating to show that open access articles are cited 25250% more than non-open access articles from the same journal and year1.
As readers, researchers benefit because they will increasingly be able to
access and use the full text of all the research published in their area, not
just the research available to them via the subscriptions their institution can
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afford. This is particularly important where neighbouring countries share
common problems and need to collaborate in their research effort.
What should be done to implement the policy (answers to
Frequently Asked Questions)?
What should be deposited when I have a paper ready for publication?
The final manuscript of the author's research paper should be
deposited in the author’s Institutional Repository. This is the author's own
final draft, as accepted for journal publication, including all modifications
resulting from the peer-review process. (In addition, depositing pre-peerreview drafts, ‘preprints’, is welcome, if the author desires early priority and
peer feedback, but this is just an option available to authors and not a
requirement. In some cases publishers may permit their own published
version, either in SGML/XML or PDF, to be deposited as well.)
When should papers be deposited?
An electronic version of the author's final manuscript resulting from
research supported, in whole or in part, by Government funding should be
deposited immediately upon acceptance for publication.
What kind of papers should I deposit?
The policy applies to peer-reviewed, original (primary) research
publications and reviews that have been supported, in whole or in part, by
Government funding. The policy does not apply to book chapters, editorials,
or book reviews.
Will authors still be able to publish in a journal of their choice?
Authors will continue to decide in which journal to publish their
research papers. They will only have to ensure that a copy of the final,
peer-reviewed paper is deposited in their institutional repository
immediately upon acceptance for publication.
What is an open access journal?
An open access journal makes articles it publishes freely accessible
online6. Some open access journals cover their costs by charging the
author's institution or funder for publication. The Government may cover
such open access publication costs where funds are available and needed.
Many journals absorb publication costs in other ways and make no charge.
How can I find out whether my journal has a policy compliant with
immediately providing access as Open Access?
You should consult the individual journal's policy which is given at:
http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo.php or at
http://romeo.eprints.org/publishers.html
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Do I need to deposit my paper if the journal publishing my research
already provides immediate open access to my articles?
Deposit is not required but is still recommended even if a manuscript has
been accepted by an open access journal. Your institution will still wish to
have your work deposited in its repository to enable it to maintain and make
known a compete record of institutional research output.
Links and References
1.
Ten-Year Cross-Disciplinary Comparison of the growth of Open Access and How it Increases
Research Citation Impact. IEEE Engineering Bulletin, Vol.28 N.4,
December 2005.
http://sites.computer.org/debull/A05dec/hajjem.pdf
http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/11688/
2.
Open Archives Initiative search engine (OAIster) http://oaister.umdl.umich.edu/o/oaister/
3.
BOAI (http://www.soros.org/openaccess/)
4.
List of OA Resources from Workshop web site
http://www.ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/OAworkshop2006/
5.
Salvador Declaration
http://www.icml9.org/meetings/openaccess/public/documents/declaration.htm
6.
Directory of Open Access Journals http://www.doaj.org
List of Participants
NAME
ORGANISATION
Sunil Abraham
Mahiti, Bangalore, India
Prof. Subbaiah Arunachalam
M S Swaminathan Research Foundation,
Chennai, India
Prof. N Balakrishnan
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Prof. S Chandrasekharan
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
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Dr Wu Changbai
NSFC, Beijing, China
Dr Devika P Madalli
Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore, India
Prof. Raghavendra Gadagkar
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Prof. M Giridhar
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Dr Eve Gray
Consultant & OSI Fellow, South Africa
Prof. Zu Guang'an
Executive Director, Dept of Publications,
NSFC, Beijing, China
Subbiah Gunasekaran
CECRI, Karaikudi, India
Francis Jayakanth
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Prof. E D Jemmis
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Prof. Niranjan V Joshi
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Amit Kapoor
Topaz and Mindspring, USA
Helen King
Shuttleworth Foundation, South Africa
and UK
Barbara Kirsop
Electronic Publishing Trust for Development,
UK
Dr S Krishnan
National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India
Lawrence Liang
Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore, India
Filbert Minjh
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Prof. M R N Murthy
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Madhan Muthu
NIT, Rourkela, India
Dr Takao Namiki
Dept. of Mathematics, Hokkaido University,
Japan,
Prof. Achim Osswald
Cologne University of Applied Sciences,
Cologne, Germany
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Dr Abel Packer
SciELO/ PAHO/ BIREME, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Anand Parthasarathy
Consulting Editor, The Hindu
Prof. J Pasupathy
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Prof. A R D Prasad
DRTC-ISI, Bangalore, India
Prof. S K Rangarajan
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Prof. Sriram Ramaswamy
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Dr Mesfin Redi
Dr D K Sahu
Prof. Sundar Sarukkai
University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
MedKnow Publications, Mumbai, India
National Institute of Advanced Studies,
Bangalore, India
Phet Sayo
IDRC, New Delhi, India
Dr Pippa Smart
Publishing Initiatives, INASP, Oxford, UK
Dr Alma Swan
Key Perspectives, UK
Ms Susan Veldsman
eIFL, South Africa
Dr S Venkadesan
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Prof. Lu Wenru
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences,
Beijing, China
Ms Wan Xiaoxian
Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
*Liu Xiwen
Sciences
Library of the Chinese Academy of
Beijing, China
Ms Liu Ying
NSFC, Beijing, China
*sent his paper but was unable to attend the workshop
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Workshop on Electronic Publishing and Open
Access
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 2-3 November 2006
Supported by the Open Society Institute
(http://www.soros.org/openaccess)
The Bangalore workshop was convened to bring together policy makers and
research scientists from major developing countries to agree a path forward
towards adopting full Open Access to publicly-funded research publications. The
importance of access to the world’s research information for the development of
a strong economy and a vibrant research capability is widely acknowledged, yet
financial barriers limit access by developing countries to the research information
they need. Equally, the unique research carried out in countries representing
80% of the world’s population is largely ‘invisible’ to international science
because of economic or other constraints. The resolution of many of the world’s
problems, such as emerging infectious diseases, environmental disasters,
HIV/AIDS or climate change, cannot be achieved without incorporation of the
research from developing countries into the global knowledge pool.
Open Access to the world’s publicly funded research literature provides equal
opportunities for the communication of all research information, eliminating
financial barriers. Furthermore, articles made available electronically on an open
access basis have been shown to be cited1 on average 50% more often than
non-open access articles from the same journal, thus ensuring the greatest
possible benefit both to the authors, to the investment of funding agencies and to
scientific progress. The benefits to authors, readers and their organisations is
now increasingly recognised worldwide and at November 4th 2006, 761
repositories had already been registered in the Registry of Open Access
Repositories, and the Open Archives Initiative’s OAIster search engine 2 could
search over 9,000,000 records in interoperable Open Access repositories.
Building on the Budapest Open Access Initiative recommendations3, and past
Declarations of commitments to the strategy of Open Access4, particularly the
Salvador International Declaration on Open Access for Developing Countries 5,
and recognising the benefits that Open Access will bring to the strengthening of
science, participants to the Workshop agreed the following model National Open
Access Policy for Developing Countries.
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The Bangalore workshop was convened by the Indian Institute of Science, the
Indian Academy of Sciences and the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation.
It was supported by the Open Society Institute.
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