1) The document discusses Arab Initiatives of Open Access (AIOA), a volunteer group founded in 2007 to promote open access publishing in the Arab world and beyond. 2) AIOA advocates for unrestricted use and free dissemination of research. It aims to encourage researchers and publishers in the region to adopt open access models to maximize dissemination of knowledge. 3) The group has translated works on open access policies into Arabic and developed an Arab Digital Repositories database. It also contributes to conferences and is registered with the Open Access Directory.

1. Discover Open Access with QSience.com
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Doha, Qatar
Arab Initiatives of Open Access
AIOA
Dr. Sulieman Alshuhri
Inaam Ullah

2. Overview of the Contents
• Why we believe in Open Access
• AIOA in the Context of Open Access
• AIOA in the Context of Open Access
• Open Acess practices in Saudi Arabia

3. Why we believe in Open Access
“When the son of Adam dies no
further reward is recorded for his actions, with
three exceptions: charity whose benefit is
continuous, knowledge from which benefit
continues to be reaped, or the supplication of a
righteous son (for him).”‘ (Muslim)

4. Why we believe in Open Access
• We advocate the unrestricted use & free
dissemination of research
• We want to encourage both researcher and
the publisher in the region to opt OA for
maximum promotion.
• OA benefits researchers, institutions, nations
and societies as a whole.

5. AIOA in the Context of Open
Access

6. What is AIOA
• An oldest group of volunteers starting from
2007 for adoption OA publishing approach.
• Earlier in the absence of the OA concept in the
Arab world decided to provide readers &
researchers with a blog that introduces OA in
theory and practices.
• AIOA follow up on the World’s OA activities.

7. Who is AIOA
• A group of people who are interested in OA
• Striving to promote OA in not only Arab but all around the
world
• Covers recent development in OA field
• Editorial Board
Dr. Sulieman Al-Shuhri
Mr. Inaam Ullah
Dr. Amal Al-Salem
Dr. Abdel-Rahman
Dr. Maha Mohammed
Dr. Essam Obaid

8. AIOA Goals
• To disseminate the benefits of publishing in open
access.
• To promote the practices of open access in the
Arab and other world
• To attract and convince the concept of
information for all.
• To provide a platform for the authors and
publishers for open access publishing
• To encourage the idea of Book Endowment
• To enrich Arabic content

9. Achievements of AIOA
• Translation Service
A book “Policy Guidelines for the Development
and promotion of Open Access” by Dr. Alma
Swan has been translated from English language
to Arabic

10. Achievements of AIOA
• AIOA has developed its own Database “ Arab
Digital Repositories”
• AIOA has Contributed so far in number of local
and international Conferences.
• AIOA is a registered blog with Open Access
Directory.
• Agreement with some Scholars and Publishers
to publish their works under OA policy e.g.
the Book Endowment (Waqf) policy.

11. Users by Countries
From January 2014 to up to now there have been 64,000 viewers
of AIOA all around the world.
Country Viewers
Saudi Arabia 12919
United States 11613
Egypt 8266
Algeria 3551
United Kingdom 2375
Russia 2088
Germany 1612
Netherlands 982
Ukraine 714
France 674

12. How to Reach AIOA
• Website: aioablogspot.com
• Twitter: aioatweets
• There is also a Facebook Community of AIOA
which can be reached
Facebook: Arab Initiative of Open Access Community

13. Open Access Practices in
Saudi Arabia
• Number of OA Journals in DOAJ (6)
• Growth of OA Journals in DOAJ
• 0.3% of total DOAJ journals published in
Arabic
• Number of Open Access Repositories in Saudi
Arabia ROAR (6)

14. Challenges to OA in Saudi Arabia
• OA awareness
• Number of Arabic open access journals
• Institutional encouragement to OA
• Low number of open access repositories
• Absence of Research funders
• Open Access Policies

15. Conclusion
Keeping in view all the challenges there is a
need to promote the concept of OA so that the
OA may be flourish in the region.

16. Thank You for your
Attention