User:Filippo Morsiani/Open access in Malta

Open Access in Malta are research articles published with the international OA periodicals in Malta. By 2013, there are 12 research articles published with BioMed Central, an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine), pioneer in the OA publishing, such as articles published by the G. F. Abela Junior College, the Faculty of Engineering and the Department of Medicine, University of Malta (UoM). As of Feb 2017, 1 OA journal is published in Malta and indexed with the Directory of Open Access journals, known as the Malta Journal of Health Sciences.

Most journals, which are published in Malta, are being converted to Open Access. These include: Malta Medical Journal (the jouranl of the University of Malta) and Xjenza (Journal of the Malta Chamber of Scientists). The Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies (MJES), published by Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research, has been produced as a hard copy format since 1996. In 2008, a decision was made by the editorial board to join the Open Access publishing movement and to make the MJES available free of charge online. No OA mandates are registered in ROARMAP. In 2014, the University of Malta Library launched its institutional repository. OAR@UoM is integrated with the UoM Library's portal, the HyDi, and it is accessible throuh the Library website.

Enabling Environment
Malta has only one University: University of Malta. Research in Malta has increased considerably in the past few years as a result of the setting up of a national research funding scheme. At a national level, research is funded primarily though grants offered by the Malta Council for Science of Technology (MCST), Malta Enterprise, and government programs aimed at supporting PhD students, and through EU by providing considerable research funding.

Potential Barriers
Research in Malta is not coordinated centrally, which does not to keep records for all researchers' activities. There is a low awareness on Open Access within the research community although researchers in particular disciplines as physics are more aware of it than others.

Details of Key Organizations
University of Malta, is publishing in BioMed Central, and join OA publishing community by MJES.

MCST - Malta Council for Science and Technology- a national advisory body to Government on science and technology policy as well as the national contact organization for the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies, Professor Ronald G. Sultana, Founding Editor and Editor in Chief, EMCER.

OA-Related Events
1-3 September, 2015: The 19th International Conference on Electronic Publishing, scheduled to be held in Malta. The International Conference on Electronic Publishing (Elpub) approaches its 20th anniversary. Elpub 2015 is the 19th edition of the conference and it will continue the tradition, bringing together academics, publishers, lecturers, librarians, developers, entrepreneurs, users and all other stakeholders interested in issues regarding electronic publishing in widely differing contexts. Elpub 2015 will particularly focus on the interplay of two dimensions of the electronic publishing – the ever growing volume of digital collections, and the improved understanding of the widest user group, the one of the citizens.

May 2015: University of Malta (MT), “Open Access and its Impact on Research and Scholarship”. This was a FOSTER training event.

Various workshops and other activities for the University of Malta's Library that celebrates Open Access Week yearly.