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Access to research in the Global South: Reviewing the evidence.

Access to research in the Global South: Reviewing the evidence

As INASP reflects on changes in access to research over the past two decade, this evidence-informed report reviews the current access situation in the Global South and the extent to which access to e-resources published in the Global North can contribute to development impact.

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INASP has done work around enabling access to research for over 20 years. In that time, publishing, technology and the environment in which researchers in low- and lower-middle-income countries (LLIMCs) work has changed enormously. The funding environment for such work has also changed significantly.

As INASP embarks on a new phase of work, it has chosen to reflect on those changes in order to help it to make informed decisions about if and how to take this area of work forward.

To date, INASP has worked to enable access to research because:

  1. Access to research strengthens a country’s capacity to address development issues
  2. Researchers in LLIMCs need/demand access to research
  3. Those needs/demands are not adequately met

This review considers the evidence around the extent to which these assumptions hold true in 2018.

The study holds in mind that the ultimate goal of INASP’s work is development impact, and aims to provide an evidence-informed report of the extent to which access to e-resources that are published in the Global North can contribute to such impact and the current access situation in LLMICs. It is not intended as a review or evaluation of INASP’s work in this area to date.

 
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