SPARC Innovator: The World Bank

“First, the World Bank first made its data freely available. Then, it launched itsOpen Knowledge Repository and began using Creative Commons licenses. On July 1, it will implement a new Open Access policy for all of its research outputs and knowledge products. When an organization as large as the World Bank wholeheartedly embraces openness, many hope the impact will not just be a ripple but a wave.  For being a pioneer in sharing research on such a global scale, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition recognizes the World Bank as its June 2012 Innovator. ‘The World Bank has taken a leadership role in opening up access to the wealth of information that it produces and funds,’ says Heather Joseph, Executive Director of the SPARC in Washington, D.C. ‘They have thoughtfully and systematically applied the concept of Open Access to all of their research outputs, which has the potential to greatly enhance its impact. They are in a unique position to demonstrate the power that Open Access can have on their development agenda...‘ Since April 2010, the Bank has made its data open online for others to learn from and reuse. Much of the Bank’s material has been available free on the institution’s website, but with the new Open Access policy, there will be an aggregated portal – The Open Knowledge Repository. Here the metadata is curated, content is easily found and downloaded for anyone to use and build on it. The Bank is using the DSpace platform and the repository currently hosts 4,410 documents, in addition to 1,071 links to articles published in scholarly journals... Generally speaking, there was buy-in for making the content free and for the Creative Commons licensing, says Carlos Rossel, World Bank’s Publisher. ‘We had senior management support. That’s half the battle,’ he says. ‘We got it done very quickly.’ That’s not to say there weren’t some hurdles... Meeting with the Banks’ large research department, there was concern about how Open Access would impact their need to publish in peer-reviewed journals. ‘They didn’t want it to be an impediment to their research. They saw it as another hurdle to getting published,’ says Rossel. Through consultation and negotiation, they found common ground. The Bank agreed to accept publisher embargoes. ‘That was a compromise,’ he says. ‘I think we will revisit the issue of embargoes in the future...’ ‘The World Bank is a known entity,’ says Rossel. ‘It has the potential to influence the actions of similar organizations so that it is possible that in the long-term other organizations will adopt their own Open Access policies.’ The Bank is working with developing countries interested in promoting open government, transparency, and citizen engagement, says Rossel. The Open Access policy will bring with it the potential for crowd sourcing... Many are hopeful the Bank’s move will spur larger change.  Chan hopes it may pressure other organizations, such as the World Heath Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to open up their research and develop a clear access policy.  ‘Where the World Bank goes, we hope other similar bodies will go after them,’ says Swan... The Bank is the first of all major international organizations to adopt an Open Access policy and Creative Commons license. ‘We are plowing unchartered territory,’ says de Buerba. The Open Knowledge Repository has had over 325,000 hits and 50,000 downloads in just the first two months. ‘We were expecting quite a bit of support, but the response has been phenomenal,’ says de Buerba.”