InfoTech: EBSCO, Hasselt University Library, IODE Developing Open Science Directory

-- Library Journal, 03/05/2008

• Uses EBSCO A–Z locator
• Directory offers access to 13,000 science journals
• Provides developing regions a comprehensive search tool

EBSCO Information Services is working in tandem with Belgium’s Hasselt University Library and the IODE (International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange) program of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC) to develop a global Open Science Directory. EBSCO said that the Open Science Directory, which uses its A-to-Z locator product, was originally been developed by it and Hasselt “based upon a request by marine information management experts collaborating within the framework of the IOC’s IODE programme.”

Available free on the Internet, the Open Science Directory provides developing regions with a comprehensive search tool for all open access and special program journal titles. The directory offers immediate access to approximately 13,000 scientific journal titles, with an objective of 20,000 titles midway through development, EBSCO said. The main open access collections included are DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), BioMed Central, HighWire Press, and PubMed Central, and special programs HINARI, AGORA and OARE. INASP-PERI and eJDS will be added in the near future.