The Agricultural Information Management Standards Portal (AIMS) of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) gathers information on (and access to) standards, technology and best practices. It is also a forum connecting information management workers around the world to discuss open access and open data.

With the objective to increase the accessibility and visibility of research products in its member countries, FAO is promoting the exchange of scientific and technical information related to all aspects of agriculture since the early 1970s. Moving from paper to digital and from processing to partnerships, FAO has established a series of programmes to support these efforts and make knowledge, information and research data on agriculture and related sciences available, accessible and usable.

The team behind AIMS strives to:

• Facilitate innovation transfer and assure the generation of new ideas, products and services worldwide accessing agricultural research through online platforms;
• Enhance the importance of access to and usage of reliable agricultural information resources as a central building block for improving research and education;
• Strengthen engagement of countries and international, regional and national organizations in scaling up access to and dissemination of agricultural knowledge, information and research data.

Research organizations, higher education institutions, and public policy decision-makers require access to scientific research. In addition, access to agricultural research through online platforms is crucial to facilitate innovation transfer and assure the generation of new ideas, products and services worldwide. It changes the way processes in organizations are carried out. For this reason, the AIMS team strives to partner to enhance digital access to research and data for development.

• To support member countries by providing services to make scientific literature and data accessible - particularly to the Global South - through the exchange of knowledge, data and information at global, regional and country levels
• To foster an innovative environment to increase FAO’s contribution to the eradication of hunger and malnutrition, sustainability of natural resources, and advancement of social and economic conditions of its member states.

Through:

• Providing access to paywalled scientific literature to organizations in low and middle-income member countries through Research4Life and AGORA;
• Making scientific literature and data in agriculture, produced in the Global South, accessible through AGRIS;
• Enriching the knowledge sharing, visibility of and access to agricultural sciences through AGROVOC;
• Strengthening the capacity of individuals, organizations and enabling environment to produce, manage, exchange and re-use knowledge, information and research data.

For more information contact [email protected].