Icrisat launches open access system for scientific publications

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) here has formally launched an open access (OA) system for its scientific publications.

Icrisat has declared the Green OA Mandate in the Institute, thereby making available a digital, web-accessible repository of pre-prints of the scientific and scholarly publications emerging from its research.

According to the registry on global OA initiatives maintained by the University of Southampton in the UK, Icrisat is among the earliest agricultural research institute to declare the Green Mandate. The University of Southampton maintains the database which is called Roarmap.

According to Icrisat director general, William Dar, the OA mandate will further enhance the profile of the institute through improved citations to published scientific work.

“Our Institute’s Green OA Mandate is in keeping with our guiding principle of developing international public goods, and it will further demonstrate the public value, and social and economic relevance of Icrisat’s research,” Dar stated in a press release here on Wednesday.