(Open) Access to information is key for developing countries.

Sad to see publishers with draw certain countries access when they are still considered low development countries. Sure when a country has clearly cross the finish line and is a developed country remove their right to free journals and allow them to pay for them. However, removing support when they are teetering on the edge just does not seem like the best way to help ensure they will cross that line permanently.

Great to learn about the HINARI initiative, sad to hear that some publishers aren’t supporting all the developing countries.

Amplify’d from www.thelancet.com

Bad decisions for global health

Lack of access to knowledge is the main limitation to human development. Since WHO’s Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI) was launched in 2002, 137 publishers have provided content from 7000 journals free to local, non-profit institutions in 105 eligible countries. In 2010 alone, according to Kimberly Parker (WHO’s HINARI programme manager), 400 new journals were added to the network. HINARI offers the opportunity of access to hitherto inaccessible knowledge for the most resource-poor countries in the world.

When news came last week that several large publishers—including Elsevier (our publisher), Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, and Springer—had withdrawn journals from HINARI’s Bangladesh programme (and other countries too, such as Kenya and Nigeria, although the full extent of withdrawal remains unclear), there was a collective cry of betrayal. When challenged, one publisher, that of Science, immediately reversed its decision. Unknown to editors at The Lancet, our journals were also part of this withdrawal. Elsevier too, has now reinstated its journals into HINARI for Bangladesh. We welcome that decision. As far as we are aware, neither Springer nor Lippincott Williams & Wilkins have yet restored their earlier withdrawals.
Read more at www.thelancet.com

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