World Bank Establishes Open Access Policy

Founded in 1944 as one of the five Bretton Woods institutions, the World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries. Starting July 1, 2012, research conducted by Bank employees and research funded by the Bank will be available through the Open Knowledge Repository. According to the Bank’s open access policy statement, “The World Bank supports the free online communication and exchange of knowledge as the most effective way of ensuring that the fruits of research, economic and sector work, and development practice are made widely available, read, and built upon. It is therefore committed to open access, which, for authors, enables the widest possible dissemination of their findings and, for readers, increases their ability to discover pertinent information.”  Thousands of documents have already been uploaded to the Open Knowledge Repository. The site offers searching and browsing options by title, author, date, topic, keyword, region, and country.

Legal scholars and other researchers will be able to access the Bank’s publications on topics such as poverty reduction, gender equality, public health, environmental sustainability, education, capital development, agriculture, conflict prevention, and more.