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Paris, October 10, 2006
Within the context of a series of specially dedicated conferences, all French Universities and Grandes Ecoles, along with 8 research centres (CEMAGREF, CIRAD, CNRS, INRA, INRIA, Inserm, IRD and the Pasteur Institute), have just signed a memorandum for the creation of a common repository for scientific publications. This is an unprecedented undertaking by French national institutions to promote access to scientific information.
In parallel to the traditional channel of scientific journals, the Internet has become a direct mode of communication between researchers. French institutions are keen to use this means of disseminating and promoting the scientific production of their researchers and lecturers, and have thus decided to set up a common platform on which such scientific production can be deposited. In connection with the other open archive repositories developed around the world, this instrument has been chosen to meet the criteria of direct scientific communication (open access). It is built using HAL, a software tool developed at CNRS’ Centre for Direct Scientific Communication (CCSD).
Created in 1991 by physicists, the “ArXiv” system has gradually won over many researchers and institutions around the world by guaranteeing the protection of documents and providing open access to them within international circles. For several years now, there have been a growing number of initiatives in favour of Open Archives. On 22 October 2003, leading European research organisations signed the Berlin declaration on “open access to knowledge”. In 2005, the CERN became part of this movement, believing that “open access to scientific knowledge is currently the aim of a growing portion of the global scientific community”. In the same year, the Academy of Science lent its support to “modern electronic techniques of Direct Scientific Communication”.
The importance of knowledge dissemination for society is no new phenomenon; the connection between the ancient tradition of individual exchanges between scientists from around the world and the development of modern science is undeniable. The opening of these institutional archives, in accordance with the principle of Open Access defined in the Berlin Declaration, considerably increases accessibility to the work of researchers by rendering them consultable free of charge, namely via major international theme-based portals. It is also a key factor in fostering access to scientific information for researchers in countries in the South.
Contact Press:Académie des sciences |
Scientifics Information:Franck Laloë |
