The Electronic Publishing Trust for Development is UK-based charitable trust, which cares for the developing countries needs and problems.
They asked me to distribute their present statement with regard to the present debate along the epetition to the German Bundestag (National Parliament).
Here it is.
Eberhard Hilf
Statement of the EPT to the German OA-debate:
The Electronic Publishing Trust for Development, a UK-registered charitable Trust,works both to improve access to research information by the research communities in the developing world and to ensure the incorporation of research arising from these regions into the global knowledge pool. Without the worldwide distribution of research knowledge on a 'level playing-field basis', the many problems facing the planet (climate change, infectious diseases, agricultural challenges through drought/flooding . . .) will not be resolved.
Open access to publicly funded research publications is an essential first building block to sharing research between all countries. This strategy, proposed some years ago, is now well-established in many universities, institutes and funding organisations and increasingly understood by the research community as being the best way to increase the use of published findings for the public good.
As evidence of growing global acceptance, the following statistics can be found from online open access databases:
Open access policies and resources;
Total numbers; from developing countries;
- National/institutional/departmental mandates requiring open access; see ROARMAP:
176 total number,
13 (7%) from developing countries;
- Institutional repositories; See Registry of OA Repositories
1552 total numer,
324 (21%) from developingcountries;
- OA Journals; See Directory of Open Access Journals
4507 total number,
~773 (17%) from developing countries.
From these figures (at December 17th 2009) it can be seen that developing countries are increasingly aware of the benefits of open access and beginning to adopt open access policies and establish open access repositories and open access journals. However, there is much yet to be done in raising awareness of such benefits both to administrators and the research communities. Furthermore, training in the establishment of institutional repositories and setting up open access journals is essential. Fortunately, there is an increasing volume of information available online, and a good example of this is from the Open Society Institute-supported Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook (OASIS).
But the best mechanism for accelerating adoption of what is now clearly accepted as the right way foreword for the global distribution of knowledge, would be the adoption and iGxxxovermplementation of policies by major research countries. The EPT greatly welcomes this initiative by the (OFST/German National Government) and hopes that you will be encouraged by developments so far and by the increasing need for sharing research publications to meet the urgent needs of the world, particularly of those in resource-poor nations. The poorer nations need an independent science base on which to strengthen their economies. Without free access to existing research information they will remain forever dependent.
Trustees of the Electronic Publishing Trust for Development
Barbara Kirsop (UK)
Subbiah Arunachalam (India)
Leslie Chan (Canada)
Margaret Ling (UK)
Judy Ugonna (UK)
Virginia cano (UK)
Vanderlei Canhos (Brazil)
Daisy Ouya (Kenya)
