OA in an oasis (revisited): The Growth of Open Access in the Arab World (Keynote by Dr. Alwaleed Alkhaja at 18.00 BST, 21 April 2020)

Dr. Alwaleed Alkhaja

Senior Intellectual Property Librarian Qatar National Library


With experience in scholarly publishing and a background in scientific research, he is an open access advocate and avid supporter of accessible and equitable knowledge. He has a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the International Max Planck Research School of Molecular Biology in Goettingen, Germany, and an MBA from the Alliance Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester. At Qatar National Library, he is responsible for copyright policies and currently oversees the management of the Qatar National Library Open Access Fund.

OA in an oasis (revisited): The Growth of Open Access in the Arab World

OA ensures a visible and transparent return on publicly funded research, and there is an expectation that open access to research findings will have a positive effect on R&D. A discussion about the future of electronic publishing is not complete without looking into the open access (OA) publishing landscape. The presentation examines to what extent has the Arab world adopted OA compared to other regions. The presentation will first give an overview of recent global developments concerning open access publishing. By specifically looking into OA journals, OA repositories, and OA policies, the presentation will then examine opportunities and obstacles for OA publishing adoption in the Arab world (with a closer look into how this has changed over the last five years). Lastly, the presentation will give examples of OA adoption in Qatar, citing efforts by recently set up local OA publishers and efforts by the Qatar National Library Consortium.

Published by milenadobreva

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