Cut free access to the scientific archive

Some international scientific journals have "cut", giving poor countries free access to their archives .

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A number of public health experts have suggested that large publishers should reconsider the incident, because it threatens the flow of information needed for development.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reached an agreement to allow poor countries free access to part of the system that provides free access to scientific journals for low-income countries. most until 2015 (HINARI). This system helps to transfer the work of research institutes to the developing world, to help researchers contribute intelligence to improving public health and reducing poverty.

But earlier this year, researchers in Bangladesh were informed that they no longer had free access to 2,500 documents through this system. Research institutes in Kenya and Nigeria also received the same notice, while scientists in some other countries said they could not access some documents since the 2007s. According to WHO, 28 income countries Low current has been stripped of access to the system.

Allowing low-income countries free access to those countries has almost no cost to publishers, but cutting their rights will harm publishers' image and cause status lag behind.

That means publishers are separating themselves from the goal for the development of governments and research institutes, some public health experts said.