INASP [Informational Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications] at 20: Celebrating two decades of success

[INASP is ‘an international development organisation working with a global network of partners to improve access, production and use of research information and knowledge, so that countries are equipped to solve their development challenges.”]  “This summer saw INASP celebrate the 20th anniversary of its founding and this issue of the INASP newsletter tries to give some context to that. First up is a short article on our history – where we came from, what we have done and how we have developed as an organisation over the last two decades. From very small and humble beginnings it is probably fair to say that our development has been quite impressive to where we find ourselves today... many of the early drivers that led to INASP being founded or guiding how we have developed are still active and continue to influence our development today. The underlying role and demand for an organisation like INASP have been consistent throughout this time, even though the information environment has changed massively since the early 1990s.  There is then a reflective article from John Willinsky that captures much of what he presented during the symposium about the important role of networking that INASP has played in promoting and improving scholarly communication (see page 7). It’s good to have reflections like this to remind ourselves and others that INASP gets a lot of its strength from the extensive network of organisations and individuals with which we work.  There then follows an article from Atta-ur-Rahman about promoting research in Pakistan (see page 8). Pakistan has been a partner country of INASP for almost 10 years now and it is great to see what progress can and has been made when the right policies, people and resources are brought together. It is encouraging to see that INASP helped contribute to this development and it is an inspiring example of what can be done.  The final article in the newsletter is from our Executive Director and discusses where we are today and where we are headed in the future (see page 10). We very much hope to be around for the next twenty years and this article outlines our vision and plans for the years to come. It presents some context and progress from the past but in particular it outlines some of the challenges that remain. Whilst we can never be entirely sure of the future, we feel that INASP can continue to contribute to the development of research communication and scientific information and help strengthen the global scientific research and knowledge system...”