Introduction

There has been a positive and steady though slow response towards Open Access among the different stakeholders. As of March 2021, there are seven Open Access journals indexed in DOAJ. Researchers from Oman publish articles in international OA periodicals. For instance, in 2013, there have been 36 research articles with BioMed Central – an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine), pioneer in the OA publishing model, and among them most viewed articles published by researchers from College of Pharmacy and Nursing, University of Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman, Veterinary Research Centre, college of Medicine and Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, and Sultan Qaboos University.

There are currently no OA mandates registered in ROARMAP and no OA digital repositories listed in OpenDOAR.

Enabling Environment

The Digital Oman Strategy, endorsed in March 2003, contributes in terms of developing the Omani Digital Society and e-government through many projects concerning development of the IT industry in the Sultanate and also to expand research and development activities to include most sectors of the national economy

According to the Internet world statistics (2011) the Internet usage in Oman has grown from 90,000 in 2000 to about 1,465,000 users in 2011. This implies that the current percentage of the Omni population that now has access to the 48.4 percent penetration rate.

Potential Barriers

The potential barrier to Open Access movement in Oman has been attributed to lack of Open Access policies and awareness among the stakeholders. In addition to the lack of policy to recognize Open Access publications in promotion and tenure evaluation. Despite various initiatives, open science still faces many barriers in Oman such as lack of open access policies, lack of awareness among the stakeholders, and lack of recognition for publishing in OAJ when it comes to promotions. Although their research is funded using public money, many researchers still publish in journals locked up in commercial databases.

Oman embarked at transforming Oman into a sustainable knowledge-based economy began with setting the economic vision for the Sultanate towards the year 2020 to which the Digital Oman Strategy, endorsed in March 2003, contributes in terms of developing the Omani Digital Society and e-government. Projects are implemented in support of the Digital Oman Strategy and Government Initiative includes: training programs and strategic awareness in support of the Digital Oman Strategy and e-government initiative, and directs programs and projects concerning development of the IT industry in the Sultanate. With a mandate: Promoting the e.oman initiative locally and globally, supervising programs for international software licensing agreements.

To support open science, The Research Council has established Masader, The Oman Virtual Science Library to provide access to a wealth of global research material. TRC is planning to adopt an open access publication policy in the very near future, where all publications resulting from funded projects must be published as open access.

Key Organizations

Omani Library Association had many activities in the field OA and setting and implementation of digital libraries.

P.O. Box: 37, Postal Code: 123, Sultanate of Oman – Muscat, Tel.:+ 968 24145600

Mobile: +968 99372236, Fax: +968 24413413; e-mail: omanlibassociation@gmail.com

OA mandate: None

The Research Council provides funds in many scientific research areas.

Communication address: P.O. Box 1422, Muscat 130, Sultanate of Oman, Tel.: +968 24509800, Fax: +968 24509820; e-mail: webadmin(at)trc.gov.om

Oman Medical Journal (OMJ)

Communication address: P.O. Box: 1984, Postal Code: 130, Al-Athaiba, Muscat Sultanate of Oman. Tel.: +96824499252 Ext. 106/118; e-mail: omj(at)omsb.org

Events and Programs

●     Omani Library Association - Arabian Gulf Chapter held a workshop on setting and implementation of digital libraries during (22-23) November, 2009.

●     Oman hosted the 17th annual Special Libraries Association-Arabian Gulf Chapter conference by Sultan Qaboos University and the Omani Library Association which took place in Muscat.

●     In a study conducted by Abdelmajid Bouazza (2006) to study the researchers understanding/ and acceptance in the University of Sultan Qaboos, Oman on Open Access- showed that their acceptance of the free access is still weak as (78.8% of the members of the study did not publish research in Open Access journals, and 77.8% of them are not familiar with the international initiatives on Open Access).

Publications

●      AL-BADI, Waleed Ali and NASSER AL-BATTASHI, Muneer (2013) Digital open access initiatives in health information: Oman Medical Journal as a model. Paper presented at: IFLA WLIC 2013 - Singapore - Future Libraries: Infinite Possibilities in Session 207 - Knowledge Management.

●      Bouazza, Abelmajid Saleh and Waheed Qaddora. (2007). "Researchers' Trends at Sultan Qaboos University and the University of Tunis Towards the available Online Periodicals through Open Access System and some of the Benefits expected for the University Libraries: a Comparative Study". Information and Knowledge Management in the Community of Arab Gulf Conference. Bahrain: Special Libraries Association (SLA) in the countries of Arab Gulf, 2007, page 34. (in Arabic)

●      Venugopalan, P., A. K. Agarwal, W. J. Johnston, and E. Riveria. 2002. “Spread of Heart Diseases Seen in an Open-Access Paediatric Echocardiography Clinic.” International Journal of Cardiology 84(2–3):211–16. doi: 10.1016/S0167-5273(02)00147-X.