Introduction

As of March 2021, Directory of OA journals (DOAJ) lists no OA journal. Researchers from Bahrain publish articles in international Open Access journals, ,many research articles have been published with BioMed Central – an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the Open Access publishing model– and among them are highly accessed (most viewed) articles published by researchers from Dept. Medical Biochemistry, Arabian Gulf University, Manama, Bahrain.

There are currently no OA policies registered in ROARMAP.

The kingdom of Bahrain is setting the plan for the Royal Digital Library. It will be the first national digital library in Bahrain with the objectives to bridge the gap of digital information in Bahrain. It will also provide necessary information for citizens and the community of researchers, banking on the prowess of modern technology. The library will be connected with other digital libraries throughout the world so that it will reduce costs and save time for Bahraini researchers.

Many initiatives are funded by the Kingdom of Bahrain as UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Education was instituted in 2005. The prize is awarded yearly and consists of a sum of US$50,000 (a cheque and a diploma), to be equally divided between two laureates. The prize is funded by the Kingdom of Bahrain. Also, a regional centre for ICT and telecommunications will be set up in Bahrain in cooperation with UNESCO.

Bahrain eContent Award is organized by the eGovernment Authority and Bahrain Internet Society in the Kingdom of Bahrain which inspired by WSA - the World Summit Award in order to select quality eContent and promote creativity and innovation in the development of new media applications in Bahrain

The Open Data Portal (“the Portal”) of the Government of Bahrain (“the Government”), available through www.data.gov.bh , provides all interested parties with easy access to a wealth of official non‑sensitive / non‑confidential / public data (the “Data”). Such Data is sourced, by the Information & eGovernment Authority (“iGA”), from all Government entities (the “Entities” or “Entity”) based on their specific roles and responsibilities, and is made available through the Portal using several formats, including raw data and graphical representations.

Enabling Environment

Bahrain is a regional ICT leader and is one of the most Internet-connected countries in the Middle East, The Kingdom of Bahrain has embarked upon an ambitious effort in the field of ICT infrastructure to support the to bridge the gap of digital information in Bahrain. According to ITU (International Telecommunication Union), of a population of 1,214,705, internet users grew from 40,000 in 2000 to 649,300, that implies 53.5 % of the population have access to the internet.

Potential Barriers

Lack of Open Access awareness and no national or Institutional Open Access policy in Bahrain.

Key Organizations

Bahrain Medical Bulletin (BMB) turned to Open Access from December 2008 and is applying the less-restriction Creative Commons Attribution License (CCAL) that allows commercial re-use of all BMB journals' works published.

Communication address: P.O.Box 30880, Kingdom of Bahrain, Tel: (+973) 17239798,

Fax: (+973) 17277036, bahmb(at)batelco.com.bh

Project web links: http://www.bahrainmedicalbulletin.com/index.htm