Developing Nations Access Initiative

Since, 2008, JSTOR has waived or offered reduced participation fees for any academic or not-for-profit institution in developing countries (and all of Africa). 

In creating the Developing Nations Access Initiative, JSTOR conducted a comprehensive evaluation of all 80 countries identified in the lower tiers of the World Bank rankings. General and economic metrics were used to determine eligibility and the best feasible access/ fee model for a given country. The metrics used included: population, status of English, political stability, gross national income, gross domestic product per capita, human development index value, as well as a range of indicators for education, research & development, and information & communication technologies.

Based on the findings of our research the countries were divided into three tiers:

• Tier 1: JSTOR waives its standard participation fees (the Archive Capital Fee and Annual Access Fee) for any not-for-profit institution in select developing countries.
  Eligible countries: Haiti, Kiribati, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Yemen.
   
• Tier 2: JSTOR waives its standard participation fees (the Archive Capital Fee and Annual Access Fee) for any not-for-profit institution in select developing countries for 2009, 2010, and 2011, with a modest contribution after 2011. Eligible countries: Cambodia, Guyana, Honduras, Kosovo, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Paraguay, Samoa, Suriname, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tonga, Uzbekistan.
   
• Tier 3: JSTOR offers a dramatically reduced fee model for any not-for-profit institution in the developing world. Institutions will receive access to all archive collections.
  Eligible countries: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Vietnam.
  
  The Developing Nations Access Initiative is another step in the evolution of JSTOR's commitment to providing access to the archive in the developing world. We expect that our experiences with the Developing Nations Access Initiative will serve to further our understanding of the economic and access challenges in these countries as we strive to continually meet the growing needs of the global scholarly community.