ASPB is participating in Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA), which is an initiative to provide free or low-cost access to over 400 major scientific journals in agriculture and related biological, environmental, and social sciences to public institutions in developing countries.
AGORA is led by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN). AGORA's goal is to increase the quality and effectiveness of agricultural research, education, and training in low-income countries and in turn, to improve food security. Countries on the list generally have an annual per capita income of $1,000 (U.S. currency) or less.
"Many agricultural libraries in developing countries had not received science journals for a number of years. By providing scientists in poor nations access to current scientific information, we believe scientists in these nations will be better able to help address local problems in agricultural production," Mary Lou Guerinot, President of ASPB and Professor at Dartmouth College, said. Guerinot added, "We are committed to sharing the most current knowledge in plant science to help address fundamental needs of people throughout the world for food."
ASPB's provision of free access to its journals to poor nations is part of the overall efforts of ASPB member scientists to address world needs for better nutrition through enhanced knowledge of plant biology and of food crop development. In addition to making the most current findings in plant biology available to developing world scientists, research conducted by ASPB members will help alleviate afflictions caused by nutritional deficiencies in people's diets throughout the world. For example, Guerinot's research could lead to iron-rich food crops for consumption by three billion people throughout the world afflicted with iron deficiencies. Guerinot is studying metal transport in plants and regulation of gene expression by metals with a primary focus on iron.
Plant Physiology and The Plant Cell are two of the three most frequently cited plant science journals in the world. Following is a list of the developing nations that now have free access to ASPB science journals:
Afghanistan
Albania
Angola
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bangladesh
Benin
Bhutan
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Congo
Cote d'Ivoire
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gambia
Georgia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Kenya
Kiribati
Kyrgyzstan
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Lesotho
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mongolia
Mozambique
Myanmar
Nepal
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Papua New Guinea
Republic of Moldova
Rwanda
Sao Tome and Principe
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Solomon Islands
Somalia
Sudan
Tadjikistan
Timor-Leste
Togo
Tokelau
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Republic of Tanzania
Uzbekistan
Viet Nam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
ASPB is a non-profit society of nearly 6,000 plant scientists. Founded in 1924, ASPB is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland. For more information on ASPB, visit the ASPB web site at http://www.aspb.org For more information on AGORA, visit http://www.aginternetwork.org/en/