The Open Science Directory

Access to scientific literature is very important for the scientific work in developing countries. As a result of different projects a large collection of e-journals is now available for researchers in developing countries. The number of Open Access Journals is growing steadily as we can see in the Directory of Open Access Journals. Major UNO organizations like WHO, FAO and UNEP have their specific programs for the scientific institutions in low-income countries. Finally a lot of universities, institutes and other organizations are supporting access programs.

All these programs and projects have their own website and/or search engine. IOC/IODE, with the support of EBSCO and Hasselt University Library, is creating a unique access point to all the journals contained in the different programs - the Open Science Directory.


The Goals of the Open Science Directory are:

• To create a global search tool for all open access and special programs journal titles.
• To enhance the access of these collections by creating direct links to the journals and their articlesincluded in this A-to-Z-list.
• All information about the included journal collections is available at the websites of the included projects. These websites are directly accessible from the Open Science Directory.
• The Open Science Directory will not replace these programs. Also the different programs have their own regulations and eligibility conditions. As a interested user, you or your institute will have to register on their sites if you want to make use of special programs like HINARI, AGORA, INASP-PERI, OARE, eIFL and eJDS.

Content:

• About 13000 scientific journals are now available in the Open Science Directory. When all the special program journals are included, the Open Science Directory will contain more than 20000 titles.
• Open Science Directory contains collections of Open Access Journals (e.g. Directory of Open Access Journals) and journals in the special programs (Hinari, Agora, OARE). Other programs will be added in the near future: INASP-PERI, eJDS.