November 2011: The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has launched the Global Open Access Portal (GOAP), funded by the Governments of Colombia, Denmark, Norway, and the US Department of State. The Portal presents a current snapshot of the status of Open Access (OA) to scientific information around the world.

For countries that have been more successful implementing OA, the portal highlights critical success factors and aspects of the enabling environment. For countries and regions that are still in the early stages of OA development, the portal identifies key players, potential barriers and opportunities.

The GOAP is designed to provide the necessary information for policy-makers to learn about the global OA environment and to view their country’s status, and understand where and why OA has been most successful. [Global Open Access Platform]