No Longer ‘Publishing As Usual’

Despite the spread in use of ICTs in agricultural research (see ICT Update 70) information is still constrained by the way it is published and the degree to which it is open. Piers Bocock of CGIAR shares how his organisation is addressing this.

CGIAR is recognised as a global leader in producing research that contributes to a food-secure future, particularly for the poorest of the poor. But the results of our research are not consistently available on an open access basis to the agricultural community. If all of the data produced by research organisations could be made available to those trying to improve agricultural efficiency in the developing world, their contribution to addressing the world’s most pressing challenges could be dramatically improved.

CGIAR research is carried out by thousands of scientists across 15 international research centres and partner institutions via 16 global research programmes. The network’s activities are funded by governments and foundations aiming to tackle the most pressing challenges of our time: poverty, food security, nutrition and health, and climate change. Our research results are cited widely, and the organisation has been collecting and analysing valuable data, producing research papers and developing critical agricultural breakthroughs for over 40 years.