The World Bank has embraced open access to further its mission of fighting poverty. It has implemented a four pillar open agenda of access to information, open data, an open access policy, and creative commons licensing. This has led to increased dissemination of the Bank's research and knowledge products, with over 250,000 downloads in the first year alone, mostly from developing countries. Open access aligns with the Bank's mission and makes it more relevant, transparent, accountable, and results-driven in its development work.

1. Why Open Access is
Right for the World Bank
Carlos Rossel, Publisher, The World Bank
Open Access Africa
University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
November 5, 2012

2. Why Open Access is
Right for the World Bank
• It wasn’t always so
• It’s Mission Driven
• It’s Cutting Edge
• It makes us Relevant
• It makes us Open and Transparent
• It makes us Accountable
• It makes us Results Driven
• It Works

3. It wasn’t always so
“The Bank needs to exploit the commercial
potential of its publications”
It Wasn’t Always So
– Publisher’s Job Description, January 2008

4. World Bank Mission
Statement
Our Dream is a World Free of
Poverty
To fight poverty with passion and
professionalism for lasting results
To help people help themselves and their
environment by providing resources, sharing
knowledge, building capacity and forging
partnerships in the public and private sector

5. “We need to do development differently”
Robert Zoellick, President, The World Bank Group
New Direction: Democratizing Development
We need to throw open the doors, recognizing that others can find and
create their own solutions. And this open research revolution is underway.
We need to recognize that development knowledge is no longer the sole
province of the researcher, the scholar, or the ivory tower.
The aim is to open the treasure chest of the World Bank’s data
and knowledge to every village health care worker, every
researcher, everyone.
Georgetown University, September 2010

6. Conflict & Failed States Early Childhood Education Gender Equity
Investment Climate
Climate Change
Jobs Old Age Security Health

7. Conflict & Failed States Early Childhood Education Gender Equity
Investment Climate
Climate Change
Jobs Old Age Security Health

8. Embracing
Openness
THE WORLD BANK OPEN AGENDA

9. Four Pillars of the
World Bank’s Open Agenda
1. Access to Information
•Moved from positive to negative list
•Except for small list of exceptions,
documents and reports are available
•Millions pages viewed since July 2010
Open About
What We Do
“The World Bank’s Access to Information Policy is (Operations and
Results)
the gold standard for financial institutions…”
− Chad Dobson, Bank Information Center

10. Access to Information – Website

11. Access to Information – iPad App

12. Four Pillars of the
World Bank’s Open Agenda
1. Access to Information
2. Open Data
Open About Open About
What We Know What We Do
(Data and (Operations
Knowledge) and Results)

13. Open Data Portal

14. Open Data: Mapping for Results
Portal

15. Unique Visitors Total Visits Pages Viewed

16. Four Pillars of the
World Bank’s Open Agenda
1. Access to Information
2. Open Data
3. Open Access Policy
4. Creative Commons Licensing
Open About
Open About
What We
What We Do
Know
(Operations
(Data and
and Results)
Knowledge)

17. Our Conflict

18. (Thousands)
Dissemination of Print Books

19. (Thousands)
“Followers” on Social Media

20. (Millions) Dissemination of Print and Electronic

21. Strategic Review of
World Bank Publications
Create a cutting edge publishing model
that fully embraces free and open access,
with a particular emphasis on electronic dissemination
+ + =

22. Weekly Downloads
Weekly average: 8,604 Documents Downloaded
Large increase in October in number of downloads, doubling from September across all collections

23. Monthly Downloads
90
80
70
60
Thousands
50
40
30
20
10
0
Apr-12 May-12 Jun-12 Jul-12 Aug-12 Sep-12 Oct-12
Developing Countries Developed Countries
Monthly average: 36,874 Documents Downloaded;
42% from Developing Countries

24. Total Downloads
258,117 Downloads (58% developed, 42% developing countries)
Large increase in October in number of downloads, doubling from September across all collections

25. Top 30 Countries, by Downloads

26. Timeline of Content Added
Total: Over 9,900 documents
Additional legacy content to be added in 2013

27. Timeline of Repository Development and Addition of Content
2012
OKR launches with 3,000 research outputs and
knowledge products from 2008 to present April
Content: Import of 1,000 externally published
Content: Import of 1,000 externally
May published journal articles
journal articles
Content: Import of 3,000 legacy publications
from 2005 to 2008 June
July President Kim takes office
Access to Information policy
implemented
July July
August Development: New custom workflow engine
Content: Import of 2,800+ Knowledge Notes
from 2005 to 2008 September
Inclusion of Global Financial Development Report
October 2013
Inclusion of Doing Business 2013 October
October Inclusion of World Development Report 2013
New functionality: Author Profiles November
New functionality: Enhanced download statistics,
November and citations reporting

28. Sustainable Open Access Publishing
in a Mission-Driven, Non-Profit Institution
• Content. Lots of good content
• Strong brand
• Enabling authorizing environment
 OA Policy / CC Licensing / Publishing Policy
• Client oriented
 Agile
 Competitive
• Focus on customers
• Innovative
• Entrepreneurial
• Really good people
• Luck

29. The Currency of
Open Access Publishing

31. Next Steps
• Network with, and learn from, the OA community
• Partner with other institutions for repository interoperability
 South-South knowledge exchange
 South-North knowledge exchange
• Develop Open Educational Resources
• Advocate for Open Access
• Where we can add value, help develop OA capacity

32. Why Open Access is
Right for the World Bank
• It’s Mission Driven
• It’s Cutting Edge
• It makes us Relevant
• It makes us Open and Transparent
• It makes us Accountable
• It makes us Results Driven
• It Works
If you’re a mission-driven, non-profit institution
open access is right for you too

34. Carlos Rossel, Publisher, The World Bank
crossel@worldbank.org