As we continue to collectively look for ways to support our colleagues in Japan as they work to recover from the unprecedented events of earlier this month, SPARC would like to reinforce a request made by Peter Suber this past weekend. We are collecting -- and posting to the SPARC Open Access Forum (SOAF) -- information on any initiatives that are offering free online access to research or data as humanitarian assistance to Japan. The initiatives may be gold, green, gratis, libre, partial, temporary, or any variation on the theme.   

To boost the visibility of these resources, SPARC will ensure that any information supplied is made immediately available without delay.  Peter will also include a full recap of this information in the April issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter.

You can choose to forward any information directly to Peter (and he will post it to SOAF) by emailing peter.suber [at] gmail [dot] com or else post directly to the SPARC Open Access Forum: 

• SOAF message archive: https://mx2.arl.org/Lists/SPARC-OAForum/List.html
• SOAF subscription info: http://www.arl.org/sparc/publications/soan#forum 

Resources we are already aware of include:  

* The Emergency Access Initiative from the US National Library of Medicine, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, and the Professional/Scholarly Publishing Division of the Association of American Publishers.

http://nnlm.gov/mcr/bhic/2011/03/15/eai-japa/

http://eai.nlm.nih.gov/docs/captcha/test.pl 

 * Japanese earthquake and tsunami in ReliefWeb, the UN's OA database for humanitarian relief.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc108?OpenForm&emid=EQ-2011-000028-JPN&rc=3

 * Evidence-based clinical and patient-focused information covering the evaluation and treatment of radiation exposure <http://healthcare.thomsonreuters.com/radiation>, including: [1] Clinical information on evaluating radiation exposures, [2] Clinical information about drugs used in the treatment of radiation exposure, [3] Clinical information about treating overdoses involving radiation therapies, [4] Patient education handouts for people who have been exposed to or are concerned about the risk of radiation exposure, and [5] Patient education handouts for people who receive treatment for radiation exposure....

 *  The *Lack* of OA to data on radiation leaking from the Japanese nuclear reactors collected by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.  

http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2011/03/exclusive_governments_withhold.html

We welcome any other information that the community may be able to provide links to. 

Tags: humanitarian assistance, Japan