Yale Program to Give Developing World Access to Global Scientific Research
by Alan Bisbort - Environment Yale, Spring 2006
Paul-Bendiks Walberg has had the “brain-drain migration” on his mind. This phenomenon – when the best and brightest of a nation or region are compelled to travel abroad for education, research and job opportunities, never to return home– is a direct result of what scientists around the world call “the Great Information Divide.” That “divide” refers to the near total lack of access to the global scholarly record (scientific journals, monographs and A&I databases) in the developing world. As globalization continues apace and development issues go unaddressed in these impoverished nations, the gap widens. For three years, Walberg, a 2002 graduate of F&ES and the Yale School of Management, has pondered a way to bridge that divide within the environmental sciences. “You could say I’m almost obsessed with this problem,” he said. Though Walberg smiles at his singlemindedness, the situation is no laughing matter to him.
“In a majority of countries in the developing world, it’s remarkably difficult to conduct scientific research,” he said. “Without access to the literature, scholars don’t know what’s happening in their field of study, and if they’re interested in conducting research that adds to the scientific record, they risk duplicating work someone else has already completed and wasting years of effort.”
This information gap, particularly at the university level, can paralyze institutional development. “Without a stable group of qualified faculty, institutions of higher learning have great difficulty educating environmental leaders and specialists,” he said. Oswald Schmitz, professor of population and community ecology and associate dean for academic affairs at F&ES, has been concerned about the information divide since the 1990s, when he began conceiving plans for “distance education,” in hopes of offering full courses in ecology via the Internet. “These countries are always playing catch-up,” said Schmitz. “The most critical environmental issues are in these developing countries with huge populations, huge poverty and conflict. It’s the part of the world that needs the material the most. We educate and train students from other countries here, but when they go home they find that there are no tools with which to work. It’s especially bad in Africa.” Walberg’s “obsession” intersected with Schmitz’s “distance” idea while he was a student at F&ES. “I started the Center for Biodiversity Conservation and Science, and needed someone who knew the business side and knew about conservation,” said Schmitz. “Paul had taken some of my courses, and was uniquely trained with that combination. He was energetic and experienced. And he’s proven he’s a valuable asset.”
Indeed, upon graduation, Walberg became intrigued by the rapid growth of online publishing of scholarly resources and the profound lack of scientific libraries in Central and South America, where he conducted research. He became interested in the possibility of creating an online library in the environmental sciences for developing countries. Three professional contacts proved vital to shaping the idea: Kimberly Parker, head of Yale University Library’s electronic collections; Maurice Long, liaison to leading publishing houses and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers; and Barbara Aronson, program manager of HINARI (the Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative), a World Health Organization program in which Yale University Library has played a leading role. HINARI has strengthened public health services in developing countries by providing access to research in the medical sciences.
Now, Walberg’s digital Internet library, called Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE), is ready for prime time, a fact that was verified late last year when OARE received grants of $250,000 each from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. OARE will be co-directed by Schmitz and Ann Okerson, associate university librarian for collections and international programs, and managed by co-organizers Walberg and Parker. Through OARE, a secure Internet portal, approximately 900 public institutions in 110 developing countries will receive free or deeply discounted access to the online scientific literature of leading international publishers. In the project’s first phase, due to be launched in October, 70 nations with per capita gross national products (GNPs) under $1,000 will receive free access to literature in environmental economics, law and policy; chemistry; biology; ecology; meteorology; oceanography; geology; hydrology; climatology; geography; forestry; fisheries; environmental biotechnology and engineering; energy; and other subjects. Key participating publishers include Elsevier, Blackwell, Taylor & Francis, Springer, John Wiley, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, National Academy of Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Nature Publishing Group, Annual Reviews and many others. The portal will be available in several languages, including Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish, and will offer a range of scientific databases and search engines to facilitate identification of information buried in thousands of articles. The consortium of institutions involved in OARE has expanded to almost 40, including leading publishers, foundations, universities, multilateral organizations and nongovernmental organizations. “We expect the project to launch with 700 to 900 serial titles from 20 major scientific publishing houses,” said Walberg, adding that annual subscription fees to these titles can run as high as $3,000. “Together, eligible institutions would pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million each year for access to these resources were they located in the United States. The scale of publisher generosity is quite profound,” said Walberg.
Participants are located in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. The diversity of the eligible institutions is as impressive as the list of countries. The following organizations are typical of those found on OARE’s 24-page list: Madagascar’s Université d’Antananarivo, Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministère de l’Environnement, Kenya’s National Academy of Sciences, Peru’s Amazon Research Institute, Colombia’s Universidad de Antioquia, Honduras’ Secretaria de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente, Fiji’s Ministry of Fisheries and Forests, Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, and Bangladesh’s Institute of Development Studies.
“There will be some gatekeeping. It is a secure portal, not a free-for-all,” said Schmitz. “You have to register through an institution or agency that is participating. The intent is to empower leaders in these countries. They are the stakeholders in their own countries, and only they can solve their problems.”
Walberg and Parker will continue to build and manage the project with key contributions from partners in the United Nations Environment Programme, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, Cornell University and leading scientific publishers around the world. If all goes well in the first phase, OARE will initiate a second phase next year, with material going to 45 more countries that have GNPs between $1,000 and $3,000.
“In a majority of countries in the developing world, it’s remarkably difficult to conduct scientific research,” he said. “Without access to the literature, scholars don’t know what’s happening in their field of study, and if they’re interested in conducting research that adds to the scientific record, they risk duplicating work someone else has already completed and wasting years of effort.”
This information gap, particularly at the university level, can paralyze institutional development. “Without a stable group of qualified faculty, institutions of higher learning have great difficulty educating environmental leaders and specialists,” he said. Oswald Schmitz, professor of population and community ecology and associate dean for academic affairs at F&ES, has been concerned about the information divide since the 1990s, when he began conceiving plans for “distance education,” in hopes of offering full courses in ecology via the Internet. “These countries are always playing catch-up,” said Schmitz. “The most critical environmental issues are in these developing countries with huge populations, huge poverty and conflict. It’s the part of the world that needs the material the most. We educate and train students from other countries here, but when they go home they find that there are no tools with which to work. It’s especially bad in Africa.” Walberg’s “obsession” intersected with Schmitz’s “distance” idea while he was a student at F&ES. “I started the Center for Biodiversity Conservation and Science, and needed someone who knew the business side and knew about conservation,” said Schmitz. “Paul had taken some of my courses, and was uniquely trained with that combination. He was energetic and experienced. And he’s proven he’s a valuable asset.”
Indeed, upon graduation, Walberg became intrigued by the rapid growth of online publishing of scholarly resources and the profound lack of scientific libraries in Central and South America, where he conducted research. He became interested in the possibility of creating an online library in the environmental sciences for developing countries. Three professional contacts proved vital to shaping the idea: Kimberly Parker, head of Yale University Library’s electronic collections; Maurice Long, liaison to leading publishing houses and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers; and Barbara Aronson, program manager of HINARI (the Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative), a World Health Organization program in which Yale University Library has played a leading role. HINARI has strengthened public health services in developing countries by providing access to research in the medical sciences.
Now, Walberg’s digital Internet library, called Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE), is ready for prime time, a fact that was verified late last year when OARE received grants of $250,000 each from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. OARE will be co-directed by Schmitz and Ann Okerson, associate university librarian for collections and international programs, and managed by co-organizers Walberg and Parker. Through OARE, a secure Internet portal, approximately 900 public institutions in 110 developing countries will receive free or deeply discounted access to the online scientific literature of leading international publishers. In the project’s first phase, due to be launched in October, 70 nations with per capita gross national products (GNPs) under $1,000 will receive free access to literature in environmental economics, law and policy; chemistry; biology; ecology; meteorology; oceanography; geology; hydrology; climatology; geography; forestry; fisheries; environmental biotechnology and engineering; energy; and other subjects. Key participating publishers include Elsevier, Blackwell, Taylor & Francis, Springer, John Wiley, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, National Academy of Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Nature Publishing Group, Annual Reviews and many others. The portal will be available in several languages, including Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish, and will offer a range of scientific databases and search engines to facilitate identification of information buried in thousands of articles. The consortium of institutions involved in OARE has expanded to almost 40, including leading publishers, foundations, universities, multilateral organizations and nongovernmental organizations. “We expect the project to launch with 700 to 900 serial titles from 20 major scientific publishing houses,” said Walberg, adding that annual subscription fees to these titles can run as high as $3,000. “Together, eligible institutions would pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million each year for access to these resources were they located in the United States. The scale of publisher generosity is quite profound,” said Walberg.
Participants are located in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. The diversity of the eligible institutions is as impressive as the list of countries. The following organizations are typical of those found on OARE’s 24-page list: Madagascar’s Université d’Antananarivo, Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministère de l’Environnement, Kenya’s National Academy of Sciences, Peru’s Amazon Research Institute, Colombia’s Universidad de Antioquia, Honduras’ Secretaria de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente, Fiji’s Ministry of Fisheries and Forests, Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, and Bangladesh’s Institute of Development Studies.
“There will be some gatekeeping. It is a secure portal, not a free-for-all,” said Schmitz. “You have to register through an institution or agency that is participating. The intent is to empower leaders in these countries. They are the stakeholders in their own countries, and only they can solve their problems.”
Walberg and Parker will continue to build and manage the project with key contributions from partners in the United Nations Environment Programme, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, Cornell University and leading scientific publishers around the world. If all goes well in the first phase, OARE will initiate a second phase next year, with material going to 45 more countries that have GNPs between $1,000 and $3,000.
