Why Open Access is Right for the World

Bank

Carlos Rossel, Publisher, The World BankOpen Access Africa

University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

November 5, 2012

• It wasn’t always so• It’s Mission Driven• It’s Cutting Edge• It makes us Relevant• It makes us Open and Transparent• It makes us Accountable• It makes us Results Driven• It Works

Why Open Access is Right for the World Bank

It Wasn’t Always So

“The Bank needs to exploit the commercial potential of its publications” – Publisher’s Job Description, January 2008

It wasn’t always so

World Bank Mission Statement

Our Dream is a World Free of Poverty

To fight poverty with passion and professionalism for lasting results

To help people help themselves and their environment by providing

resources, sharing knowledge, building capacity and forging

partnerships in the public and private sector

“We need to do development differently”

Robert Zoellick, President, The World Bank Group

New Direction: Democratizing DevelopmentWe need to throw open the doors, recognizing that others can find and create their own solutions. And this open research revolution is underway. We need to recognize that development knowledge is no longer the sole province of the researcher, the scholar, or the ivory tower. The aim is to open the treasure chest of the World Bank’s data and knowledge to every village health care worker, every researcher, everyone. Georgetown University, September 2010

Old Age Security

Early Childhood EducationConflict & Failed States

Health

Gender Equity

Jobs

Climate ChangeInvestment Climate

Old Age Security

Early Childhood EducationConflict & Failed States

Health

Gender Equity

Jobs

Climate ChangeInvestment Climate

THE WORLD BANK OPEN AGENDA

Embracing Openness

Four Pillars of the World Bank’s Open Agenda

Open About What We Do

(Operations and Results)

“The World Bank’s Access to Information Policy is the gold standard for financial institutions…”

− Chad Dobson, Bank Information Center

1. Access to Information•Moved from positive to negative list•Except for small list of exceptions, documents and reports are available•Millions pages viewed since July 2010

Access to Information – Website

Access to Information – iPad App

1. Access to Information2. Open Data

Open About What We

Know

(Data and Knowledge)

Open About What We Do

(Operations and Results)

Four Pillars of the World Bank’s Open Agenda

Open Data Portal

Open Data: Mapping for Results Portal

Pages ViewedTotal VisitsUnique Visitors

Four Pillars of the World Bank’s Open Agenda

1. Access to Information2. Open Data3. Open Access Policy4. Creative Commons

Licensing

Open About What We

Know

(Data and Knowledge)

Open About What

We Do

(Operations and

Results)

Our Conflict

Dissemination of Print Books(T

hou

san

ds)

“Followers” on Social Media(T

hou

san

ds)

Dissemination of Print and Electronic

(Mill

ion

s)

+ + =

Strategic Review ofWorld Bank Publications

Create a cutting edge publishing model that fully embraces free and open access,

with a particular emphasis on electronic dissemination

Weekly Downloads

Weekly average: 8,604 Documents DownloadedLarge increase in October in number of downloads, doubling from September across all collections

Monthly average: 36,874 Documents Downloaded;42% from Developing Countries

Monthly Downloads

258,117 Downloads (58% developed, 42% developing countries)Large increase in October in number of downloads, doubling from September across all collections

Total Downloads

Top 30 Countries, by Downloads

Total: Over 9,900 documentsAdditional legacy content to be added in 2013

Timeline of Content Added

April

May

June

July

July

August

September

October

October

20122012

Content: Import of 1,000 externally published journal articles

OKR launches with 3,000 research outputs and knowledge products from 2008 to present

October

November

November

July

Content: Import of 3,000 legacy publications from 2005 to 2008

President Kim takes office

Access to Information policy implemented

Development: New custom workflow engine

Content: Import of 2,800+ Knowledge Notes from 2005 to 2008

Inclusion of Global Financial Development Report 2013

Inclusion of Doing Business 2013

Inclusion of World Development Report 2013

New functionality: Author Profiles

New functionality: Enhanced download statistics, and citations reporting

Content: Import of 1,000 externally published journal articles

Timeline of Repository Development and Addition of Content

Sustainable Open Access Publishing

in a Mission-Driven, Non-Profit Institution

• Content. Lots of good content• Strong brand• Enabling authorizing environment

OA Policy / CC Licensing / Publishing Policy• Client oriented

Agile Competitive

• Focus on customers• Innovative• Entrepreneurial• Really good people• Luck

The Currency of Open Access Publishing

Next Steps• Network with, and learn from, the OA community

• Partner with other institutions for repository

interoperability

South-South knowledge exchange

South-North knowledge exchange

• Develop Open Educational Resources

• Advocate for Open Access

• Where we can add value, help develop OA capacity

• It’s Mission Driven• It’s Cutting Edge• It makes us Relevant• It makes us Open and Transparent• It makes us Accountable• It makes us Results Driven• It Works

Why Open Access is Right for the World Bank

If you’re a mission-driven, non-profit institutionopen access is right for you too

Carlos Rossel, Publisher, The World Bankcrossel@worldbank.org