Department of Biotechnology and Department of Science, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, release Open Access Policy —

"The Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Science, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, recently drafted an Open Access Policy in consultation with several open access experts, government officials and CIS. This post discusses open access and the exercise undertaken to draft this policy. The Department of Biotechnology ('DBT') and the Department of Science ('DST'), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, released their draft Open Access Policy (the Policy) on July 5, 2014 (the Policy may be accessed here and comments may be sent to madhan@dbt.nic.in by July 25, 2014). This step by the Ministry of Science and Technology is laudable, especially from the view of increasing access to research undertaken at these institutions. DBT/DST’s endeavour to provide open access applies to scientific research directly (including ad-hoc) or indirectly funded by them. It also applies to scientific research which has received benefits, infrastructure or other support from the DBT/DST.  Providing open access may also ensure percolation of cutting edge research at a rapid pace into higher education curriculum, thereby raising the standard of technical and scientific education ..."