The paper presents an overview of the current landscape of repositories in Mexico and focuses on the work being done at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Finally, we offer specific recommendations for the further development of repositories and Open Access, with particular focus on the needs and possibilities of developing countries....
Ten Mexican repositories were identified. This is quite a small number considering the size and academic importance of the country. Repositories were reviewed and classified...This was followed by a case study of 3R, a repository development project at the UNAM, the national university that produces over 50% of the country’s research....
One of the most important aspects to work towards is making university administrators and national policy makers more aware of the need to promote, fund and develop repositories. Although repositories are still not ubiquitous in all developed countries academic institutions, their importance is acknowledged and discussed at policy-making level. So although Mexico is a subscriber to the Open Access movement, real steps have to be taken towards its implementation.
It is also important to gather information from the more advanced repositories that exist in Mexico, together with work being done with 3R, to develop an important body of literature and experiences in Spanish. This would allow us to build a framework so that universities can work together to develop and promote repositories and bring this to the attention of a larger group of people, in particular university authorities, national policy makers and funding bodies.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 7/07/2008 10:39:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
