The “Salvador Declaration on Open Access: the developing world perspective” completes 10 years

Open access means unrestricted access to and use of scientific information. It has growing support worldwide and it is received with enthusiasm and high expectations in the developing world.

Open Access promotes equity. For the developing world Open Access will increase scientists and academics capacity to both access and contribute to world science.

Historically the circulation of scientific information in developing countries has been impeded by a number of barriers including economic models, infrastructure, policies, language and culture.

Consequently, WE, the participants of the International Seminar on Open Access – parallel meeting of the 9th World Congress on Health Information and Libraries and the 7th Regional Congress of Information in Health Sciences agree that

1. Scientific and technological research is essential for social and economic development.
2. Scientific communication is a crucial and inherent part of the activities of research and development. Science advances more effectively when there is unrestricted access to scientific information.
3. More broadly, open access enables education and use of scientific information by the public.4. In a world that is increasingly globalized, with science claiming to be universal, exclusion from access to information is not acceptable. It is important that access be considered as a universal right, independent of any region.
4. Open Access must facilitate developing countries’ active participation in the worldwide exchange of scientific information, including free access to the heritage of scientific knowledge, effective participation in the process of generation and dissemination of knowledge, and strengthening the coverage of topics of direct relevance to developing countries.
5. Developing countries already have pioneering initiatives that promote Open Access and therefore they should play an important role in shaping Open Access worldwide.

Therefore,

We urge governments to make Open Access a high priority in science policies including:

• requiring that publicly funded research is made available through Open Access;
• considering the cost of publication as part of the cost of research;
• strengthening the local OA journals, repositories and other relevant initiatives;
• promoting integration of developing countries scientific information in the worldwide body of knowledge.

We call on all stakeholders in the international community to work together to ensure that scientific information is openly accessible and freely available to all, forever.

Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 23 September 2005

Participants

• Abel L. Packer
  Director, BIREME/PAHO/WHO – Brazil
• Anna Maria Prat
  Assistant to the President, National Comission for Scientific and Technological Research – Chile
• Barbara Cohen
  Senior Editor, PLoS Medicine, Public Library of Science – United States
• Dan J Ncayiyana
  South Africa
• Heather Joseph
  President, BioOne – United States
• Hooman Momen
  Editor, Bulletin of the WHO, World Health Organization – Switzerland
• Jane Bortnick Griffith
  National Library of Medicine – United States
• Jan Velterop
  Consultant, Velterop von Leyden Open Access Consultancy – United Kingdom
• John Wilbanks
  Executive Director, Science Commons – United States
• Lars Bjørnshauge
  Director, Lund University Libraries – Sweden
• Lewis Joel Greene
  Editor, Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research – Brazil
• Mary Van Allen
  Research Analyst, Thomson ISI – United States
• Melissa Hagemann
  Program Manager, Open Society Institute – United States
• Naina Pandita
  Senior Technical Director of the Indian MEDLARS Centre, National Informatics Centre – India
• Paul Uhlir
  Director, Office of International S & T Information Programs, The National Academies – United States
• Regina C. Figueiredo Castro
  Coordinator, Health Scientific Communication, BIREME/PAHO/WHO – Brazil
• Rogerio Meneghini
  SciELO Brazil Coordinator, BIREME/OPAS/OMS – Brazil