Dear David
I'm happy to comment. It's true that there have been problems with access to the HINARI journals, as experienced in Peru and elsewhere. We found this was a common problem reported in the Usage Review which was carried out last May and which surveyed the experience of researchers and librarians in 12 countries using the programmes. The initial access system installed at the WHO was relatively quickly overwhelmed by the great demands of usage coming from registered institutions within the eligible countries. There are now almost 4000 institutions registered for access to the journals in medicine, agriculture and environmental science, a figure which is continuously growing and which exceeds the original forecast for the programmes.
Solving these access problems has been a core goal of all the partners involved in the programmes and we have been working at finding a solution over the last year or so. This is why we are so pleased to report the help received from our first technology partner Microsoft, as outlined in the press release below, to install a new authentication system. In May and June this year the new system was successfully installed at the WHO for HINARI and will be rolled out for AGORA and OARE over the next few weeks. So far, the evidence is that it is working well and we expect it to have a very positive impact on accessibility to the journals and overall usage data, including at the institution in Peru referred to in the PLoS Medicine letter.
Last year's Usage Review gave us new resolve to move forward with the programmes and to develop a long term strategic plan which would address the challenges, including the significant need for more training in ICT skills, and ensure a long-term legacy of research in developing countries. As well as highlighting the access problem which we are addressing, the Usage Review showed us that HINARI and AGORA are having an important and positive impact on the individuals and institutions they are reaching. As part of the strategic plan we will be seeking new partners to help to improve and ensure the sustainability of the programmes. From the user feedback we receive on a weekly basis, and from the evidence gathered in the Usage Review, we do not accept that HINARI or the other programmes are a step backward. Indeed, we believe that many people in developing countries would characterize them as a step forward.
If you would like to receive a copy of the Strategic Plan to 2015 which includes a summary of the Usage Review, please do let me know.
Best wishes,
Emily
____________
Emily Gillingham
Director, Library and Institutional Marketing
Wiley-Blackwell
9600 Garsington Road
Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
Tel: +44 1865 476425
Fax: +44 1865 471425
Email: [log in to unmask]
____________
-----Original Message-----
From: David Prosser [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 23 July 2007 10:55
To: 'An informal open list set up by the UK Serials Group'
Cc: Gillingham Emily; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Bridging the Digital Divide: Long-term commitment to access in developing world
I wonder if either Emily or Shira would be willing to comment on a recent
letter in PLoS Medicine that shows that at one institution in Peru access to
the literature through HINARI is actually decreasing, especially to the
highest impact papers. Is this a problem with just this one institution or
indicative of a wider issue?
The letter can be found here:
Biomedical Journals and Global Poverty: Is HINARI a Step Backwards?
Villafuerte-Gálvez J, Curioso WH, Gayoso O, PLoS Medicine Vol. 4, No. 6,
e220 doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040220
http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/
journal.pmed.0040220
Thanks
David
David C Prosser PhD
Director
SPARC Europe
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel: +44 (0) 1865 277 614
Mobile: +44 (0) 7974 673 888
http://www.sparceurope.org
-----Original Message-----
From: An informal open list set up by the UK Serials Group
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gillingham Emily
Sent: 13 July 2007 14:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Bridging the Digital Divide: Long-term commitment to access in
developing world
BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE: PUBLISHERS COMMIT TO BRING FREE AND LOW COST
ACCESS TO CRITICAL RESEARCH TO DEVELOPING WORLD
WHO, FAO, UNEP, Yale, Cornell and More Than 100 STM Publishing Partners
Extend Commitment Until 2015
Microsoft Joins Efforts as Technology Partner
WASHINGTON, DC - Many developing countries lack access to the information
and training that can help save lives, improve the quality of life, and
assist with economic development. To address this disparity, more than 100
publishers, three UN organizations, two major universities, and Microsoft
announced the extension of programs that provide free or almost free access
to online subscriptions of peer-reviewed journals. Information technology
leader Microsoft announced its support of technical assistance to enhance
access to online research for scientists, policymakers, and librarians in
the developing world.
The three sister programs - HINARI (Health InterNetwork Access to Research
Initiative), AGORA (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture) and
OARE (Online Access to Research in the Environment) - provide research
access to journals focusing on health, agriculture and the environment,
respectively to more than 100 of the world's poorest countries. All three
of the programs will now have official commitment from the partners until
2015, marking the target for reaching the Millennium Development Goals.
While addressing the Pan American Health Organization in December 2002, Kofi
Annan described HINARI as "using information technology to narrow the
information gap in health science."
Derk Haank, CEO of Springer Science+Business Media, said, "Publishers are
proud to be able to provide scientists, researchers and policymakers in the
developing world with the tools necessary to advance their work and hope
these programs will truly make a difference."
As the initiative's only technology partner, Microsoft is providing a new
system for access and authentication enabling secure and effective use of
the programs in developing countries. Through these enhanced features
provided under the Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG) 2007 as part of the
Microsoft Forefront Security products, the system will be able to meet
expanded demand and perform at the standards of today's most heavily
trafficked websites
In a World Health Organization (WHO) survey conducted in 2000, researchers
and academics in developing countries ranked access to subscription based
journals as one of their most pressing problems. In countries with per
capita income of less than USD $1000 per annum, 56 percent of academic
institutions surveyed had no current subscriptions to international
journals.
"HINARI-AGORA-OARE removes many of the barriers that we in the developing
world have been facing in accessing published literature," said, Dr. Mohamed
Jalloh, Consultant Urologist, at the Hôpital Général de Grand Yoff in Dakar,
Senegal. "These programs have the great potential to improve health,
education training and research in remote areas all around the world. They
have drastically improved the way we work at the hospital."
The public-private partnerships of these three programs have already
resulted in:
* A strengthened intellectual foundation for universities, enabling
faculty to develop evidence-based curricula, perform research on a par with
peers in industrialized countries, develop their own publishing record, and
enable students to conduct research and seek education in new and emerging
scientific fields;
* More science-driven public policies and regulatory frameworks;
* Greater capacity for organizations to gather and disseminate to the
public new scientific knowledge in the medical, agricultural and
environmental sciences and deliver improved services;
* Increased participation of experts from developing countries in
international scientific and policy debates; and
* A greater movement toward library patronage at universities and an
enhancement of the status of libraries.
Representatives from the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture
Organization, the UN Environmental Programme, and leading science and
technology publishers, together with representatives from Cornell and Yale
Universities, met today in Washington DC to officially extend their
cooperation to 2015, in line with the UN's MDGs.
About HINARI
(HEALTH INTERNETWORK ACCESS TO RESEARCH INITIATIVE)
[http://www.who.int/hinari], launched in 2002 under the leadership of the
World Health Organization (WHO), with technical assistance from Yale
University Library, enables developing countries to gain access to one of
the world's largest collections of biomedical and health literature. Over
3750 journal titles are now available to health institutions in 107
countries, benefiting many thousands of health workers and researchers, and
in turn, contributing to improved world health.
About AGORA
(ACCESS TO GLOBAL ONLINE RESEARCH IN AGRICULTURE)
[http://www.aginternetwork.org], initiated in 2003 and led by the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) with support from the Mann Library,
Cornell University, together with major publishers, enables developing
countries to gain access to an outstanding digital library collection in the
fields of food, agriculture, environmental science and related social
sciences. AGORA provides a collection of 958 journals to institutions in 107
countries. AGORA is designed to enhance the scholarship of the many
thousands of students, faculty and researchers in agriculture and life
sciences in the developing world.
About OARE
(ONLINE ACCESS TO RESEARCH IN THE ENVIRONMENT)
[http://www.oaresciences.org], an international public-private consortium
introduced in 2006 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Yale
University Library and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and
leading science and technology publishers, enables developing countries to
gain free access to one of the world's largest collections of environmental
science literature. Over 1,300 scientific journal titles owned and published
by over 300 prestigious publishing houses, scholarly societies, and
scientific associations are now available in 70 low income countries.
Another 37 countries will be added by 2008.
Media Contact:
Shira Tabachnikoff
Elsevier
Tel: +31 20 485 2736
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