Subbiah Arunachalam M S Swaminathan Research Foundation Chennai , India Communication flow and information access in South and South East Asia

Disk years World TH PH ID MY SG VN BD MM LK PK IN CN Number of papers published from Asian countries [SCI]

No. of papersPercent share World US UK Japan France Canada Germany Italy Number of papers published from G7 countries as seen from SCI 2000

Main telephone lines per 100 inhabitants 2001 * Internet hosts per 10,000 inhabitants 2001 * Population (thousands) 2001 GNI Per capita a $ 2000 BD , CN ,271, IN ,033, ID , MY ,7963,380 MM ,315 …b * ITU, Statistics for the year 2001, released on 20 June 2002; a. Atlas method; see WDI Statistical methods. b. Estimated to be low income ($755 or less). Source: 2002 World Development Indicators database, World Bank, 20 April 2002 Population and technology indicators

Main telephone lines per 100 inhabitants 2001 * Internet hosts per 10,000 inhabitants 2001 * Population (thousands) 2001 GNI Per capita a $ 2000 PK , PH ,0151,040 SG ,10324,740 LK , TH ,2382,000 VN , * ITU, Statistics for the year 2001, released on 20-June-2002; a. Atlas method; see WDI Statistical methods. b. Estimated to be low income ($755 or less). Source: 2002 World Development Indicators database, World Bank, 20 April 2002 Population and technology indicators

Population (thousands) 2001 No. of papers (SCI- 2000) Papers/ population (1000) BD133, CN1,271, IN1,033, ID213, MY23, MM48, Contd… Data on publication per capita for Asian countries

Population (thousands) 2001 No. of papers (SCI- 2000) Papers/ population (1000) PK141, PH77, SG4, LK19, TH61, VN79, Data on publication per capita for Asian countries

Population (thousands) No. of papers (SCI 2000) Papers/ Population (1000) US283, UK59, Japan127, France59, Canada31, Germany82, Italy57, Data on publication per capita for G7 countries

Number of JCR indexed journals published from Asian countries [JCR 2001]

Number of JCR indexed journal published from Advanced countries [JCR 2001]

No. of papers INKRTWSGTHMYIDPH CN IN KR TW SG TH MY53852 ID2675 PH266 Number of papers coauthored by scientists from Asian countries* [SCI 1998] * In some papers there may be authors from more than two countries

Total No. of papers Total No. of collaborated papers % of collaborated papers Total No. of links Internatio- nalization Index IN CN JP KR TW HK Extent of international collaboration in selected Asian countries Data from SCI 1998 Contd…

Total No. of papers Total No. of collaborated papers % of collaborated papers Total No. of links Internatio- nalization Index SG TH MY ID PH Data from SCI 1998 Extent of international collaboration in selected Asian countries

Number of papers co-authored by authors from Asian countries with authors from advanced countries Collaborating countries INCNJPKRTWHK CA JP US FR DE IT UK Data from SCI 1998 Contd…

Collaborating countries SGTHMYIDPH CA JP US FR DE IT46840 UK Number of papers co-authored by authors from Asian countries with authors from advanced countries Data from SCI 1998

No. of signers World (182 countries)30713 TH34 PH33 ID42 MY65 SG45 VN9 BD7 MM- LK18 Signers of Public Library of Science Open Letter (as of June 2002)

No. of signers US3265 UK1020 Japan70 France2521 Canada569 Germany996 Italy894 Signers of PLoS from G7 countries

 low volume of work as reflected by published journal literature  low level of patenting activity  low level of international collaboration Science in South East Asia is characterized by

Income levels and access to technology (telecom, computers, Internet, etc.) is by and large better than India, China and other South Asian countries. However, in some of these countries IT is used much more effectively in business rather than in science and higher education. In both these aspects, there are wide disparities among South East Asian nations.

Worldwide, there is great interest in making access to journals barrier free. Asian countries should take advantage of this movement and reap maximum benefit. The first step is to create awareness among scientists, librarians and policy makers. This could be achieved through traveling workshops with champions of open access such as Stevan Harnad, Steve Hitchcock, Paul Ginsparg, Leslie Chan and Peter Suber.

We may take advantage of efforts made by the  Third World Academy of Sciences  Inter Academy Panel  INASP  OAI consortium  Philanthropic foundations that support such movements