Fostering open access in Asia - BioMed Central blog

"Research output in Asia is growing fast. According to National Science Foundation indicators published in February this year, the number of articles published by researchers in Asian countries increased from 89,000 in 1997 to 212,000 in 2011. If that trend continues, Asia – with China very much in the vanguard – is likely to overtake both the US and European Union in terms of research output in the very near future. A Royal Society report from 2011 predicted that China would overtake the US sometime around now!  Given this trend, it makes sense that we’re also seeing an increase in the number of researchers from Asia choosing to publish their research open access. According to Joyce Li, our Journal Development Manager based in Beijing, open access is growing in China, and we’re also seeing a lot of interest in partnerships to start new OA journals.  However, there are still a lot of questions around open access and plenty to do if the model is to become as established as it is in the US and Europe ... So how can we continue to raise awareness of open access in Asia and provide more information and support for researchers? And how do we ensure that scrupulous standards are maintained? Well, looking at the key trends, and discussing challenges and best practice will be the focus of the first ever Conference on Open Access and Scholarly Publishing in Asia (COASP Asia), which starts on 2nd June this year ..."