News

LA Referencia is pleased to announce the incorporation of Costa Rica as the new country in the position of observer member, increasing the number of members that are part of the regional initiative of institutional repositories. The decision for the entry of the Central American country was recently approved by the Directive Council of LA Referencia, after receiving the request of the country itself.

The incorporation of Costa Rica to LA Referencia was driven by different actors of this country, mainly by the Commission for the Improvement of Journals and Repositories of the Public Universities of Costa Rica, ascribed to the National Council of Rectors (CONARE) and supported by the CONARE Advanced Network for Research and Education (RedCONARE). In addition, the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT) awarded the formal agreement for the construction of a national node, a key requirement to integrate the scientific publications of each country to the regional network. Costa Rica is committed to comply the organizational and technical guidelines of LA Referencia as well as to provide its documents in open access.

In words of Saray Cordoba, representative of the University Council of the University of Costa Rica, institution that is a reference on the subject of repositories and open access initiatives, the incorporation of Costa Rica is an important step in the national efforts made over five years to boost the visibility of science on the Web. "We have a very important responsibility, because Costa Rica contributes to at least 30% of the scientific production in Central America; now the possibility of advancing in alternative mechanisms to make it visible commits us even more to the issue of the Open Access."

The status of observer country in LA Referencia implies the realization of interoperability tests on the state of the repositories based on international standards as OAI-PMH, as well as the first test collection, for which the member has the informational support and technical assistance of LA Referencia. After a year, the country itself will evaluate its conditions and possibilities to become active part of LA Referencia.

Four of the five state universities in Costa Rica already have institutional repositories. The aim, through joint strategies, is to generate the necessary interoperability to build the national node. Thus, the University of Costa Rica, the National University, the State University and the Technological Institute of Costa Rica would be the first academic institutions to integrate the national node of Costa Rica in its initial phase.

LA Referencia has, among its aspirations, the aim to expand its impact on other countries in the region, beyond the current active members (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela). The figure of observer countries is for those countries that though still are lacking of an adequate infrastructure to join the network, intend to learn the best practices of the founding members in order to integrate the initiative in the short or medium term.