Bioline International receives OSI support to extend its work with
developing countries September 16, 2005
Call for Submission
Bioline International (BI - http://www.bioline.org.br ) is pleased to announce
the receipt of a grant of US$30,000 from the Open Society Institute’s
Open Access Project. The grant will support the incorporation of ten additional
bioscience and health journals published in developing countries into the BI
system.
It is now well recognized that scientific publishers from developing countries
have difficulties raising the visibility of their journal publications, due
to various financial and technical constraints. However, publishers increasingly
understand the great value of open access as a way to incorporate local research
into the mainstream knowledge base. Already, over 40 peer-reviewed journals
are collaborating with BI, and for many publications, document downloads have
increased by ten-fold as a result. In addition, one of the journals on the system
reports a substantial increase in submission rates and a three-fold increase
in citation impact over a three year period. Several publishers also report
that the number of international authors submitting manuscripts to their journals
has been steadily increasing, indicating that researchers now recognize and
value the increased visibility and impact provided by open access.
Journals publishers interested in providing open access to their publications
should make contact with BI and submit
the attached form, giving information about
their journal(s).
The applications will be considered by a panel consisting of members from Bioline
International and OSI.
BI is a South/North (Brazil, Canada) non-profit organization dedicated to supporting
the transformation of essential research information to OAI compliant format
and providing an Internet platform for the free and open distribution of information
that currently is largely “invisible” to the international scientific
community. BI does not charge for the document conversion/distribution services,
but the methodology of formatting from existing technologies is gradually transferred
to the publishers to increase their technical capability and develop a sustainable
and independent service for the future.
OSI's Open Access Project (http://www.soros.org/openaccess) builds upon the principles
outlined in the Budapest
Open Access Initiative (BOAI) and aims to assist the international effort to
make research articles in all academic fields freely available online. To achieve
open access, the BOAI recommends two complementary strategies: the development
of institutional repositories and open access journals.
BI is very grateful to OSI for its support in this work and values its continuing
promotion of open access and the impact it makes on the progress of science
internationally. Through open access, the contribution to the advancement of
science by the academic communities of developing countries will play an increasingly
important global role.
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