Introduction

In Thailand, ICT applications are fostered through support and policy. The ICT Master plan (2009-2013) policy is to ensure that the majority of the population will gain knowledge and capacity to access, create, and use information in an information-literate way in order to benefit in education, work, and everyday life. As of March 2021, according to DOAJ, there are 30 open access journals being published in Thailand.  Thai Digital Collection project is a cooperative open access initiative aiming to collect theses, eBooks, and e journal collections of research output from different universities in Thailand coordinated by Office of Information Technology for Development Studies, which has also taken up a Thai Union Catalogue project.

Even as the open source phenomenon is gathering pace, the Thailand government is striving to embrace Open Access principles in its strict sense. Support for Open Access comes from educational institutions, research councils and research and development organizations. As of March 2021, there are currently 17 OA repositories listed in OpenDOAR. University libraries implement IRs to publish intellectual outputs such as CUIR- Chulalongkorn University Intellectual Repository. Research Library of the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) is a national depository of research reports and theses which are collected from local universities and research organizations. Under the Science and Technology Knowledge Services project, initiatives like Thai Thesis Database, Online Resources, Thailibrary.org, eBooks, and eLearning were taken up, giving a major fillip to the Thai content. Thai LIS consortium is working to promote and advocate Open Access concept by developing OA resources using in-house applications, such as Thai Academic Reference Database. The national repository, Thai National Research Repository (TNRR) houses and publishes research reports funded by four national institutions: National Science and Technology Agency (NSTDA), National Research Council of Thailand, Thailand Research Fund, and Health System Research Institute.

A central library of NSTDA, known as Science and Technology Knowledge Services (STKS), has initiated several OA projects since the 1990s. These include NSTDA Research, Thai Glossary, Thai S&T Encyclopedia, e-Learning, and Bibliography of ASEAN Studies.

Enabling Environment

Academic and cultural sector is showing keen interest to involve Open Source based applications for libraries, databases and repositories. Research, Science and Technology and culture sectors are forerunners showing awareness and means to build OA collections through initiatives such as repositories or simple web pages of accessible links.

Potential Barriers

Socio-economic conditions, inequitable access to ICT, lack of content in English and lack of English language proficiency, lack of information infrastructure, political instability are the main barriers to Open Access growth.

ICT infrastructure in rural areas should be strengthened. More collaboration is required for making national initiatives in OA. OA awareness programmes are needed that encourage researchers to self-archive their work in local languages. A national OA policy is lacking.

Funding Mandate

There is currently no national OA policy in place and zero institutional/funders' OA policies registered in databases such as ROARMAP and SHERPA/JULIET.

Events and Programs

• 2-3 Jun 2014 - Inaugural OASPA Asian Conference on OA Scholarly Publishing, Bangkok: this was a big step of OA movement in Thailand.
• The International Conference on Asian Digital Libraries (ICADL), Bangkok, 2005.

Publications

• Barbier, E. B., I. Strand, and S. Sathirathai. 2002. “Do Open Access Conditions Affect the Valuation of an Externality? Estimating the Welfare Effects of Mangrove-Fishery Linkages in Thailand.” Environmental and Resource Economics 21(4):343–65. doi: 10.1023/A:1015129502284.
• Crock, M., J. Baker, and S. Turner-Walker. 2013. Open Universities Australia: The Evolution of Open Access and Online Education Opportunities.
• Memon, J. A., and G. B. Thapa. 2014. “Explaining the de Facto Open-Access of Public Property Commons.” PIDE Working Papers 1(114):1–26.
• Memon, J. A., and G. B. Thapa. 2016. “Explaining the de Facto Open Access of Public Property Commons: Insights from the Indus Delta Mangroves.” Environmental Science and Policy 66:151–59. doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2016.08.014.
• Nelson, J. D., and T. Phonphitakchai. 2012. “An Evaluation of the User Characteristics of an Open Access DRT Service.” Research in Transportation Economics 34(1):54–65. doi: 10.1016/j.retrec.2011.12.008.
• Pitak-Arnnop, P., K. Dhanuthai, A. Hemprich, and N. C. Pausch. 2012. “Evidence-Based Medicine, Cochrane Reviews and Open-Access Journals.” Medical Journal of Malaysia 67(2):232–33.
• Poortinga, A., W. Bastiaanssen, G. Simons, D. Saah, G. Senay, M. Fenn, B. Bean, and J. Kadyszewski. 2017. “A Self-Calibrating Runoff and Streamflow Remote Sensing Model for Ungauged Basins Using Open-Access Earth Observation Data.” Remote Sensing 9(1). doi: 10.3390/rs9010086.
• Soontarawirat, I., M. Imwong, C. J. Woodrow, C. L. Cheepsunthorn, N. P. J. Day, R. Paul, and P. Singhasivanon. 2017. “Brief Communication Open Access Exploring the Association between Glucose-6phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency and Color Blindness in Southeast Asia.” Asian Biomedicine 11(4):365–69. doi: 10.1515/abm-2018-0009.
• Takata, J., P. Sondo, G. S. Humphreys, R. Burrow, B. Maguire, M. S. Hossain, D. Das, R. J. Commons, R. N. Price, and P. J. Guerin. 2020. “The Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network Clinical Trials Publication Library: A Live, Open-Access Database of Plasmodium Treatment Efficacy Trials.” American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 103(1):359–68. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.19-0706.
• Thananusak, T., and S. Ansari. 2019. “Knowledge Production and Consumption in the Digital Era: The Emergence of Altmetrics and Open Access Publishing in Management Studies.” Research in the Sociology of Organizations 59:77–102. doi: 10.1108/S0733-558X20190000059005.
• Thaotip, L. (2011). Impact of Open Access Resources on LIS Scholars in Thailand. Asia Pacific Journal of Library and Information Science, 1(1).
• Butdisuwan, S. (2009). Acquisition and Deployment of Technology in Academic Library Environment:  Experience in Thailand. Paper presented at International Conference on Academic Libraries (ICAL-2009)5th to 8th October, 2009, Delhi University Library System, University of Delhi (North Campus), Delhi, INDIA