The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has formally adopted an Open Access (OA) Policy to share and disseminate widely the results of its institutional research and development activities. The OA Policy is effective retroactively to 1 January 2009.

According to Director General of ICRISAT, William Dar, the OA mandate will further enhance the profile of the Institute through improved citations to published scientific work: "Our Institute’s Green OA Mandate is in keeping with our guiding principle of developing international public goods, and it will further demonstrate the public value, and social and economic relevance of ICRISAT’s research".

Excerpt: "Every ICRISAT scientist/author in all locations, laboratories and offices will send a PDF copy of the author's final version of a paper immediately upon receipt of communication from the publisher about its acceptance." The documents can be accessed from the OA repository at

http://openaccess.icrisat.org.

For further information, contact Dr V Balaji, Global Leader, Knowledge Management and Sharing, at [email protected].