COAR is pleased to welcome two new members from Latin America: CONARE, the National Council of Rectors in Costa Rica and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, MINEDUCYT, from El Salvador. This strengthens and expands the Latin American presence in COAR, reflecting the strong support for repositories in that region and is an endorsement of the overall COAR vision of a distributed, global knowledge commons.
Latin America has been a leader in many aspects of open access (OA), recognizing that the widespread sharing of the results of research will contribute to the social, educational, and economic objectives of their countries. Several countries in the region have open access laws and there have been significant investments in national and regional infrastructures to support OA.
CONARE, which is made up of the five public universities of Costa Rica, is responsible for generating about 80% of the country’s intellectual production and is seeking to optimize repository operations in the country. El Salvador, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has been working over the last several years to make their academic production more visible through local journals, open access repositories as well as the development of national regulations. Both organizations, which are also members of LA Referencia, view repositories as essential infrastructure to support open access and open science.
As the international community grapples with the best way forward for open access, it is critical to ensure that the perspectives of countries outside the global north are included in this future. COAR provides a mechanism for organizations in Latin America and elsewhere to contribute their perspectives to international discussions, collaborate with other regions, and ensure global alignment and adoption of best practices.
Read the full announcement in Spanish here.
