HBKU Press Highlighted During 2019 Open Access Week as Pioneers in Publishing for Arabic Research
Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press (HBKU Press) celebrates Open Access Week 2019 as a pioneer for Open Access publishing in Qatar. Since its inception in 2010, HBKU Press has adopted an Open Access model on QScience.com, its academic, online publishing platform, hosting thousands of scholarly, peer-reviewed articles that are freely available to readers around the world
The Open Access publishing model on QScience.com allows for authors to share their work freely, with higher access, download and sharing rates, while ensuring proper citation. The Open Access model is in line with international standards meant to keep the author and the author’s interests at the heart of the publishing process. It also ensures that information from the region is being included in the wider knowledge economy.
To fulfill its mandate in Open Access publishing, HBKU Press offers a unique and collaborative research environment for academics and scholars in Qatar, MENA and the rest of the world. QScience.com supports researchers’ publishing endeavors by providing necessary services such as research writing guidance, editing, typesetting, translation, article hosting, archiving and indexing in internationally recognized indexing databases.
“In addition to the staying up to date with international best practices when it comes to Open Access publishing, HBKU Press has been meeting the increasing demand of Arabic researchers by facilitating the unique Arabic-language publication process and providing guidance at every stage,” explains Dr. Rima Isaifan, Head of Academic Publishing at Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press. “Accordingly, HBKU Press has developed a portfolio of numerous Open Access journals and conferences which are bilingual and publish Arabic academic research at the same high standard and quality as their English counterparts.”
Open Access Week is a global event that takes place at the last full week of October annually, and is now entering its tenth year. It is a unique opportunity for the academic and research community to share their experience and practices in Open Access publishing in order to discuss and disseminate the benefits of Open Access. The main goal is to ensure that, in the future, Open Access publishing models become the common norm in scholarship and research. This year’s theme is Open for whom? Equity in knowledge.
Dr. Isaifan will give a short talk, titled Pioneering Open Access Academic Publishing in the Arabian Peninsula, on October 27 at Qatar National Library’s Open Access week forum. The theme is perfectly in line with QScience.com’s aims: to ease the path for academics in the region to publish their research and have it hosted on a completely free, easily accessible, state-of-the-art, user-friendly Open Access publishing platform.
QScience.com currently hosts scholarly journals, conference proceedings, and eBooks all available for free online in an effort to disseminate knowledge and understanding of scientific, social, political and health-related subjects while adhering to international publishing standards.
“With our continued efforts to support the Open Access movement, we see QScience.com continuing to be a major hub for research published from Qatar, the region, and beyond,” concludes Dr. Isaifan.
