Barbara KirsopBioline International pioneered the provision of open access to peer-reviewed
bioscience journals published in developing countries. The system, launched in 1993,
was a partnership between the Electronic Publishing Trust for Development (EPT) in
the United Kingdom and the Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental (CRIA) in
Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. Conceived and led by Barbara Kirsop—a microbiologist
based in the UK and the founder of EPT—Bioline International was made possible by
the infrastructure and technical and human support provided by Sidnei de Sousa, Dora
Canhos, and Vanderlei Canhos at CRIA.
In early 2000, the role previously performed by EPT transitioned to the University of
Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), with support from the UTSC Library, led by Dr. Leslie Chan.
Bioline’s objectives were to:
Provide a free platform to promote open access journals for publishers lacking
sufficient resources;
Reduce technological and financial barriers to knowledge acquisition by
disseminating bioscience journal content on an open-access, easily accessible
basis—regardless of geographic, technological, or financial limitations; and
Improve the visibility of publications from the Global South, enabling them to
participate in mainstream research activities and thereby increase their impact and
credibility.
Over the years, Bioline functioned as an open-access data provider, allowing journal
articles to be easily harvested and indexed by external services. It also introduced
publishers to emerging software tools and standards, encouraging the effective use of
open-source technologies. Furthermore, Bioline promoted open access within the
academic community through case studies, investigations into how open access
influences authorship, and analyses of library usage and the adoption of open-access
resources.
Bioline provided online platforms for journal publishers from Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile,
China, Colombia, Ghana, India, Iran, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Nigeria, Rwanda,
Tanzania, Uganda, and Venezuela.
Many of these journals remain active, while others have merged or ceased publication
for various reasons. Some journals have since developed their own infrastructure or
are now supported by local institutions. The backfiles of these journals remain
accessible through the link provided.
Originally intended by Barbara Kirsop and CRIA to explore the potential of online
publishing during the early days of the internet, Bioline International represents a
foundational experiment in open scholarship. Although Barbara passed away in 2023,
her vision and determination continue to shape the global open-access movement and
the recognition of scientific contributions from the Global South. Above all, Bioline
successfully demonstrated that an effective model for providing open access to
scholarly information can be achieved through adaptability and the strength of broad
international collaborations, even with limited resources, sustained by grants and
trusted partnerships.
While the Bioline website is no longer being updated, the legacy of Barbara and the
Bioline initiative endures, supported by the Digital Scholarship Unit at the University of
Toronto Scarborough Library.
