The SciELO Brazilian Scientific Journal Gateway and Open Archives: A Report on the Development of the SciELO-Open Archives Data Provider Server

Abstract:  SciELO, the Scientific Electronic Library Online, uses a methodology developed by BIREME/PAHO/WHO [1] that enables the implementation of web digital libraries of scientific journal collections of full text articles. Various SciELO gateways are now in operation, providing access to academic journals from Brazil and other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. SciELO plays a very important role in the worldwide dissemination of the technical and scientific literature published in developing countries, thereby increasing visibility of this literature that otherwise would be accessible only within the borders of those developing countries.

The SciELO methodology utilizes ISIS software for formatting and maintaining the SciELO metadata database. UNESCO developed this software as well as other associated software, which serve as the bases for Science, Technology and Medicine (STM) information systems, databases and networks in several developing countries. This article reports on the results of a pilot-project in which a generic ISIS metadata database interface — used by SciELO — compliant with the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) was developed.