UN offers free journal access to poorest nations

The United Nations has partnered with several scientific publishers to provide the world's least developed countries with free access to online journals.

Called 'Access to Research for Development and Innovation (aRDi)', the scheme will allow industrial property offices, universities and research institutes to subscribe free of charge to prominent science and technology publications.

Participating publishers include the American Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences, Oxford University Press and Royal Society of Chemistry.

The World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, and UN Environment Programme provided advice and expertise gained from similar initiatives which offer access to journals in their respective fields of the UN agencies.

'Knowledge contained in scientific and technical literature is critical to the innovation process,' said Director-General Francis Gurry, World Intellectual Property Organization.

In certain developing countries, low-cost access to a range of key online scientific and technical publications will also be afforded to industrial property offices.