QNL Champions Efforts to Promote Open Access in MENA Region | Qatar National Library

"Qatar National Library (QNL) continues to increasingly promote unrestricted online access to research across the region, offering a broad variety of services to support the global dissemination of Qatar-based research.

The Library is a leader in open access research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, operating its Open Access Program, which includes an article processing charge (APC) fund to cover charges in open access journals. Since 2018, Qatar National Library has funded more than 5,000 articles and 2019 authors from 45 unique institutions in Qatar.

Manara – Qatar Research Repository, publicly launched last year to ensure long-term access to Qatar-based research, is part of the Open Access Program. Manara supports both Arabic and English traditional research outputs – such as articles, conference proceedings, and monographs – as well as non-traditional outputs in the form of datasets and software, multimedia materials, posters, and presentations. Currently, Manara contains almost 5,000 research items that have been viewed or downloaded more than 300,000 times.

In line with these efforts, Qatar National Library has partnered with the Knowledge E Foundation, an organization committed to advancing accessible education across the globe, to jointly host the third annual Forum for Open Research in MENA in Doha. The three-day forum, which starts on 21 October at Qatar National Library, brings together policymakers, researchers, and librarians to support the advancement of open science across the Arab world..."