A month after it started a web site of research papers to provide a one-stop service to academics, the Bharathidasan University Repository of Research Publications has received over 25 publications in digital format.
The papers from refereed journals, national seminars and research theses will soon be posted [in the repository].
The repository expects a quantum jump in the number of publications in the coming days since several teachers have asked for time to digitise the hard copies of research materials with them.
The current collection consists of recent publications and the university had requested its staff and those of affiliated colleges to make available their earlier publications in a digital format.
Last month, the university made it mandatory for all faculty members publishing in refereed journals to send their papers to the University Informatics Centre (matram@bdu.ac.in).
The university came up with the idea of the web site as a way of sparing researchers the trouble of searching far and wide for refereed papers. The web site would help them avoid duplicating research, said the Vice-Chancellor, C. Thangamuthu....
The university stands next only to the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, in implementing the concept in the country, and it has taken the lead among general universities.
The university believes that the repository will increase the citation of publications and boost interdisciplinary research collaboration among the faculty.
Comment. Kudos to everyone at Bharathidasan University involved in the decision to mandate OA to the peer-reviewed research papers written by faculty. This is only the second institutional OA mandate in India (after the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela), and I believe it's only the second time anywhere, after the University of Tasmania School of Computing, that an institution has launched a repository and adopted an enlightened policy to fill it at the same time --an excellent sign that the full message is spreading.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 12/12/2006 10:23:00 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.
