Belinda Thompson, a PhD student at ANU, has written about the challenges she has faced in accessing government research for the Australian Open Access Support Group, citing AusAID as a case study.
Belinda’s piece describes the hurdles she has faced in accessing government research on not-for-profit, non-government hospitals and large scale clinics in developing countries. She flags the outsourcing of research capacity (for example, to health knowledge hubs and contractors) and offsite libraries as part of the problem, along with a lack of online information.
Her blog raises a very important question about whether research funded by public money (including aid) should be publically available to all.
Belinda does praise the World Bank’s Open Knowledge Repository as a valuable resource. Perhaps this is a model for AusAID and other government departments to look towards?
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