Bioline International Call for Support

[lesliechan@rogers.com]

Bioline International launches
International Membership & Sponsorship drive

November, 2008.

Currently, the world's research knowledge base is incomplete. 
Research carried out in the developing world is little known and 
under-used.

A joint initiative between the Centre for Environmental Research 
Information in Brazil and the University of Toronto Scarborough, 
Bioline International has as its main goal the global exchange of 
essential research information published in developing countries, 
thereby improving the South to North and South to South flow of 
research knowledge. To this end, it is launching a major drive 
towards sustainability by inviting international Membership and 
Sponsorship by organizations and individuals supporting its aims.

Bioline currently provides access to 70 journals from 15 
countries published in the developing world. Subject areas focus 
on issues of global importance, including medical research, 
emerging infectious diseases, global public health, climate 
change, food security and biodiversity. In 2007, a further 70 new 
journals applied to join Bioline International in order to take 
advantage of open access to their publications. These publishers 
have taken note of the greatly increased usage of existing 
journals on the system -- 3.5 million full text downloads were 
recorded in 2007.

In order to meet this high demand for Bioline's services, Bioline 
must now establish a long-term, sustainable funding model which 
includes support from the worldwide community. " Too often we 
think of scientific knowledge and the developing countries in 
terms of what 'we' can do for 'them', " says Lynn Copeland, Dean 
of Library Services and University Librarian, Simon Fraser 
University Library, Canada. "We need to nurture the organizations 
and initiatives that challenge this limiting point of view, 
enriching the international scholarly community with important 
research and neglected perspectives from the developing world."

By participating in the new Bioline Membership and Sponsorship 
program, libraries and research organizations can express their 
support for the publication of open access journals, ensure 
continued access to valuable and unique content, and help bring 
new titles to the Bioline International website. As no charges 
are made to publishers, all fees and donations are used directly 
to support the website and document enhancement costs.

Institutional membership fees are set at the modest level of 
$500/year to enable widespread support.  Foundation and special 
sponsorship fees may be negotiated on an individual basis.

For more information about the Membership and Sponsorship drive, 
to learn more about Bioline, or to see which organizations have 
already committed to support Bioline, please visit the Bioline 
International website:  http://www.bioline.org.br/

Contact: Leslie Chan, Director, Bioline International 
chan@utsc.utoronto.ca