About Research4Life

• What is Research4Life?
  Research4Life is the collective name for four public-private partnerships which seek to help achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals by providing the developing world with access to critical scientific research. Beginning in 2002, the four initiatives, HINARI Access to Research Initiative, Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA), Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE), and Online Access to Research for Development and Innovation (ARDI) have given researchers at over 5,000 institutions in 109 developing world countries free or low cost access to over 8,000 journals provided by the world’s leading science publishers.
• Who administers Research4Life?
  AGORA is coordinated by FAO on behalf of its many public and private partners.
  HINARI is coordinated by WHO on behalf of its many public and private partners.
  OARE is coordinated by UNEP on behalf of its many public and private partners.
  ARDI is coordinated by WIPO on behalf of its many public and private partners.
  
• When was Research4Life started?
  Research4Life started with the launch of HINARI in 2001.
• How can we gauge the importance of Research4Life?
  One way is to look at scholarly output in nations with HINARI/AGORA/OARE/ARDI access. While a cause-and-effect relationship can't be established, such access may be a factor in a nation's increase in scholarly output… Countries benefiting from HINARI (for example) — launched in 2001 and providing journal access since 2002 — have seen a massive increase in the number of authors publishing in international peer-reviewed journals, well in excess of the increase seen in the remaining nations of the world. When looking at the number of authors publishing in peer-reviewed journals over the five-year period 2002–2006, we see 38% growth for non-HINARI countries but 63% growth for those signed up to HINARI. When looking at the number of authors publishing in peer-reviewed journals over the five-year period 1997–2001, we see a growth rate of 20% for both sets of countries. Another way is to look at feedback from our users. Over the years, we have gathered a regular flow of feedback from our users, documenting the positive impacts that access to our content has had on them, their research, their communities and their countries' development – see The Research4Life Making a Difference Booklet for some recent examples.
• How long will Research4Life continue?
  The publishers are committed to working with Research4Life in its current format at least until the end of 2015. At that time, the system will be reviewed and adapted as needed.
• What do Group A and Group B Countries mean?
  Local, not-for-profit institutions in two groups of countries may register for access to the publications through Research4Life. The two country lists (Group A and Group B) are based on three factors: GNI per capita (World Bank figures), United Nations Least Developed Countries (LDCs) List and Human Development Index (HDI).

  Group A countries: Institutions in countries which meet at least one of the following criteria may be eligible for free access: Inclusion in the UN list of LDCs; An HDI of less than 0.63; or Gross National Income (GNI) per capita at or below $1600.
  
  

  Group B countries: Institutions in countries that do not match at least one of the above criteria and with either a GNI per capita less than $5000 or HDI at or below 0.67 may be eligible to pay a fee of $1000 per year.

• How much does it cost to use each Research4Life Programme?

  - If your institution is in a Group A (free access) country, then Research4Life is free. If your institution is in a Group B (low-cost access) country, Research4Life costs US $1000 per institution per calendar year (from January through December). All institutions registering from Group B countries are entitled to a six month trial.

  - If your institution is in Group B (low-cost access) country, and you cannot or choose not to pay the annual fee, your institution will still be eligible for free access to a number of information resources.

  The income generated from Group B is invested in local training initiatives. Please note that for some countries there are some exceptions to eligibility for certain journals.

• Who are the partners?
  The Research4Life partners include the world's leading scientific publishers and other supporting institutions. Over 150 publishers are contributing content to Research4Life. Other partners include Cornell University Yale University, the International Association of Scientific Technical and Medical Publishers, Microsoft, and donor agencies including the UK Department for International Development, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. See Partners page.
• What are the requirements for becoming a partner publisher?
  The main requirements for participation are that the content be in a subject of relevance to one of the fields of Research4Life initiative (see AGORA, HINARI, OARE and ARDI separately), and that any content be available online in full text or equivalent versions for non-journal literature. Please write to us at info@research4life.org for further details on submitting your content to one of the Research4Life Programmes.

Eligibility

• Who is eligible to register for Research4Life?
  Each Programme (AGORA, HINARI, OARE, ARDI) accepts registrations separately from institutions only in Group A and Group B countries. The programmes do not accept registrations from individuals. Eligible institutions are: universities and colleges, research institutes, professional schools, extension centres and experiment stations, teaching hospitals, government offices, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and national libraries.
• How can I find out if a country is eligible to participate?
  You can consult the list of Eligible Countries that are eligible to participate in Research4Life.
• How does Research4Life determine which countries are eligible?
  The eligibility of a country is recognized in two country lists (Group A and Group B ) and based on three factors: GNI per capita (World Bank figures), United Nations Least Developed Countries (LDCs) List and Human Development Index (HDI). Local, not-for-profit institutions in two groups of countries may register for access to the publications through Research4Life. The two country lists (Group A and Group B) are based on three factors: GNI per capita (World Bank figures), United Nations Least Developed Countries (LDCs) List and Human Development Index (HDI).

  Group A countries: Institutions in countries which meet at least one of the following criteria may be eligible for free access: Inclusion in the UN list of LDCs; An HDI of less than 0.63; or Gross National Income (GNI) per capita at or below $1600.
  
  

  Group B countries: Institutions in countries that do not match at least one of the above criteria and with either a GNI per capita less than $5000 or HDI at or below 0.67 may be eligible to pay a fee of $1000 per year.

• How do I know if my library qualifies for access to Research4Life?
  Generally, Publicly funded and non-profit institutions in most countries with an annual per capita gross national income at or below USD $1,600 can gain free access to journals in these collections. Publicly funded and non-profit institutions in most countries with an annual per capita GNI of at or below $5,000 can gain access for a nominal annual fee per institution. For a list of eligible countries and more information regarding access, visit each initiative’s website.
• Why are some countries not eligible if GNI is less than US$5,000?
  The publishers participating in each programme have not, for the time being, extended their offer to countries where they have significant levels of existing subscriptions.
• Why are the lists of eligible countries based on GNI data and other statistics?
  Eligibility is based on three factors: GNI per capita (World Bank figures), United Nations Least Developed Countries (LDCs) List and Human Development Index (HDI). We recognize that these figures may change from year to year, and we monitor developments with regular reviews. FWe will publicize any changes that are made to the current criteria.
• How can I access information if I live in a developing country that is not eligible for Research4Life?
  Even if you are not eligible for full access to one of the Research4Life programmes, there are many free, full-text references listed on each Programme’s website. The abstracts of all journals listed on the AGORA, HINARI, OARE and ARDI websites are freely accessible to all users. You do not need a username to access these resources. None of the programmes provide usernames to institutions in countries that are not eligible.

Registering

• My country has a GNI greater than $5,000, and my institution is willing to pay for access. How can I do that?
  Research4Life is targeted at the least developed countries, and the programmes are not designed for subscription service. We recommend that institutions in countries like yours form library consortia, and that these consortia negotiate agreements directly with the publishers. We encourage this process to include discussions onensuring that institutions without much capacity are included in each deal.
• How can I find out which institutions in a country are participating in Research4Life programmes?
  If you go to the registration form on each programme website, there is a link to the list of all registered universities and professional schools currently using that programme.
• Once an institution is registered, who can access AGORA, HINARI, OARE or ARDI?
  All members (researchers, teaching and administrative staff, students) of a registered institution, and its on-site visitors, are eligible to access the programmes as long as they abide by the guidelines within the license agreement.

Getting Started

• What are the technical requirements for accessing HINARI/AGORA/OARE/ARDI content?
  Users need computers connected to the Internet with a connection rate of 128K baud or higher. The HINARI/AGORA/OARE/ARDI system works with Internet Explorer Version 6.0 or higher and equivalent browsers. Users also need a recent version of Adobe Acrobat Reader to access journal articles in PDF. The reader is available for free at www.adobe.com.

Other Information

• Are there other initiatives for accessing online journals?
  In addition to HINARI, AGORA, OARE and ARDI there are several other programmes which allow users from developing countries to access online journals free or low-cost. They include the Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (PERI) managed by the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP); Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL) ; the Ptolemy Project , and the Free Access to Developing Economies program from HighWire . You may find more information on the Other Initiatives Web page. In addition, on the Journals page, the "Other Free Collections" section includes links to journals available free to all users.