Speakers at an international conference in Dhaka have stressed an open access policy in Bangladesh.
As a result of policy, various types of research, activities, information will be easily open to all, making it easier for any user including researchers to obtain the place, they said.
On Thursday (Mar 7), they made the call at the closing ceremony of the second day of the two-day open access conference, which has been held for the first time in Dhaka.
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) organized the conference titled 'Asia Open Access Dhaka 2019'.
This conference was held at BARC Central Auditorium in Bangladesh this year with the help of Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR). In the conference on Mar 6, many participants from different countries of the world, including researchers, academics, and many others took part in the work.
On Thursday, last of the event, Wais Kabir, Executive Director of Krishi Gobeshona Foundation, presided over closing session with Abdur Rauf, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Hasanuzzaman Kallol, Joint Secretary of MoA, Kathleen Shearer Executive Director of COAR, and Kaju Yamaji, Executive Member of COAR, were, among others, present.
Md Nazim Uddin, Head of the ICDDR, B Library and Information Center division present the recommendations from the key points of the conference at the closing phase. He urged to work on various issues, including open access policies, increasing the use of open licenses, modernization of open repositories. Besides, the conference co-organizer Centre for Open Knowledge (COK) President Professor Mostafa Azad Kamal emphasized the need Open Education Policy.
Conference coordinator and BARC Chief Documentation Officer Dr Sushmita Das told the Bangla Tribune, "We have highlighted the issues of open access to various programs in Asian countries.
“At the same time, the conference also discussed the activities of Bangladesh and the issues that need to be given importance. We also arrange a program to celebrate Open Education Week, which was held in the conference,” she added.
During the two-day programme, special seminar and workshop on open access and open science, Open Education: Focus on Bangladesh, Institutional Rolls in Saplings Open Science and Asian Country Update, Creative Commons in Bangladesh was held. Several hundred people from various institutions including universities and research centers participated in the event.