The Brazilian Model for Free Access
Co-sponsored by the Center for Studies in Higher Education and the School of Information
Although Brazil lacks a cohesive national policy for free access to scientific and educational publications, local initiatives by universities, funding agencies and state and federal government make up the framework for a full policy for free access. The presentation aims at putting together the pieces and presenting a general picture of current and proposed policies: free access to Brazilian theses and dissertations through digital repositories; copyright exception and institutional protection for the copying of textbooks and monographs; and fomenting publicly funded peer-reviewed non author fee free access journals. The presentation also points to the deficiencies of existing policies (such as the lack of institutional repositories for scientific articles) and the potentialities of policies currently under discussion (such as copyright law reform).
Pablo Ortellado is a public policy professor at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, where he coordinates Gpopai, a research center investigating the economic and social impacts of the current copyright regime. He has written about the role of copyright in the cultural industries and the policies for the free access to educational and scientific knowledge.