User:Filippo Morsiani/Open access in Bahrain

Open Access in the Kingdom of Bahrain; As of June 2015, Directory of OA journals (DOAJ)lists one OA journal: Journal of Educational and Psychological Sciences published by the University of Bahrain. Bahrain Medical Bulletin (BMB) is the first OA journal in Bahrain.

Researchers from Bahrain publish articles in international Open Access journals, for example, in 2013, 18 research articles have been published with BioMed Central – an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the Open Access publishing model– and among them are highly accessed (most viewed) articles published by researchers from Dept. Medical Biochemistry, Arabian Gulf University, Manama, Bahrain.

There are currently no OA policies registered in ROARMAP.

Enabling Environment
Bahrain is a regional ICT leader and is one of the most Internet-connected countries in the Middle East, The Kingdom of Bahrain has embarked upon an ambitious effort in the field of ICT infrastructure to bridge the gap of digital information in Bahrain. According to ITU (International Telecommunication Union), of a population of 1,214,705, internet users grew from 40,000 in 2000 to 649,300, that implies 53.5 % of the population have access to the internet.

Potential Barriers
Lack of Open Access awareness and no national or Institutional Open Access policy in Bahrain.

Major Projects and Initiatives
The kingdom of Bahrain is setting the plan for the Royal Digital Library. It will be the first national digital library in Bahrain with the objectives to bridge the gap of digital information in Bahrain. It will also provide necessary information for citizens and the community of researchers, banking on the prowess of modern technology. The library will be connected with other digital libraries throughout the world so that it will reduce costs and save time for Bahraini researchers.

Many initiatives are funded by Kingdom of Bahrain as UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education was instituted in 2005. The prize is awarded yearly and consists of a sum of US$50,000 (a cheque and a diploma), to be equally divided between two laureates. The prize is funded by the Kingdom of Bahrain. Also, a regional centre for ICT and telecommunications will be set up in Bahrain in co-operation with the UNESCO.

Bahrain eContent Award Is organized by the eGovernment Authority and Bahrain Internet Society in the Kingdom of Bahrain which inspired by WSA - the World Summit Award in order to select quality eContent and promote creativity and innovation in the development of new media applications in Bahrain

Currently there is two Open Access journals: Journal of Educational and Psychological Sciences published by University of Bahrain in both Arabic, English and indexed in DOAJ, and Bahrain Medical Bulletin (BMB) that converted to OA, becoming Bahrain's first OA journal. BMB endorses the definition of Open Access publication drafted by the Bethesda Meeting on Open Access Publishing. Moreover it is applying the less-restrictive Creative Commons Attribution License (CCAL) that allows commercial re-use of all BMB journals' works published.

Details of Key Organizations
Bahrain Medical Bulletin (BMB) turned to Open Access from December 2008 and is applying the less-restriction Creative Commons Attribution License (CCAL) that allows commercial re-use of all BMB journals' works published.