Publishing Officers Inter-Agency Meeting (October 9, 2012) Presenter: Carlos Rossel, Publisher, The World Bank Links: http://wrld.bg/wvwOK http://openknowledge.worldbank.org

1. Why Open Access is Right
for the World Bank
Carlos Rossel, Publisher, The World Bank
Publishing Officers Inter-Agency Meeting
October 9, 2012

2. Why Open Access is Right
for the World Bank
• It wasn’t always so
• It’s Mission Driven
• It’s Cutting Edge
• It makes us Relevant
• It makes us Open
• It makes us Accountable
• It makes us Results Driven
• It Works

3. It Wasn’t Always So
• “The Bank needs to exploit the
commercial potential of its publications
while pursuing cost effectiveness in
reaching targeted audiences.”
– Publisher’s Job Description, January 2008

4. World Bank Mission Statement
Our Dream is a World Free of Poverty
To fight poverty with passion and
professionalism for lasting results
To help people help themselves and their
environment by providing resources, sharing
knowledge, building capacity and forging
partnerships in the public and private sector

5. “We need to do development differently”
Robert Zoellick, President, The World Bank Group
New Direction: Democratizing Development
We need to throw open the doors, recognizing that others can find
and create their own solutions. And this open research revolution is
underway. We need to recognize that development knowledge is no
longer the sole province of the researcher, the scholar, or the ivory
tower. The aim is to open the treasure chest of the World Bank’s
data and knowledge to every village health care worker, every
researcher, everyone.
Georgetown University, September 2010

6. Old Age Security
Early Childhood EducationConflict & Failed States
Health
Gender Equity
Jobs
Climate Change
Investment Climate

7. Old Age Security
Early Childhood EducationConflict & Failed States
Health
Gender Equity
Jobs
Climate Change
Investment Climate
The treasure chest of
World Bank knowledge

8. Embracing Openness
Open About
What We Know
(Data and
Knowledge)
Open About
What We Do
(Operations and
Results)
Open About How
We Work
(Partnerships for
Openness)
Open
Government
(Transparency,
Accountability)
T H E W O R L D B A N K O P E N A G E N D A

9. Four Pillars of the
World Bank’s Open Agenda
1. Access to Information
Open About
What We Do
(Operations and
Results)
“The World Bank’s Access to Information Policy is
the gold standard for financial institutions…”
− Chad Dobson, Bank Information Center
• Moved from positive to negative list
• Except for small list of exceptions, 2,682 new
documents and reports available
• Over 2 million pages viewed since July 2010

12. Four Pillars of the
World Bank’s Open Agenda
1. Access to Information
2. Open Data
Open About
What We Know
(Data and
Knowledge)
Open About
What We Do
(Operations
and Results)

15. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Unique visitors/week Total Visits Pages Viewed
Millions
The Impact of Open Data
Apr '09 - Mar '10 Apr '10 - Mar '11 Apr '11 - Mar '12

16. Four Pillars of the
World Bank’s Open Agenda
1. Access to Information
2. Open Data
3. Open Access Policy
4. Creative Commons Licensing
Open About
What We Know
(Data and
Knowledge)
Open About
What We Do
(Operations
and Results)

17. Our Conflict

18. -
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12
Dissemination of Print Books
(Thousands)

19. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12
“Followers” on Social Media
(Thousands)

20. -
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
FY08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12
Dissemination of Print & Electronic
(Millions)

21. Sustainable Open Access Publishing
• Content. Lots of good content
• Authorizing environment
– OA Policy / Creative Commons Licensing / Publishing Policy
• Client oriented
• Competitive
• Creative
• Entrepreneurial
• Luck
• Really good people

22. The Currency of Open Access

24. Why Open Access is Right
for the World Bank
• It’s Mission Driven
• It’s Cutting Edge
• It makes us Relevant
• It makes us Open
• It makes us Accountable
• It makes us Results Driven
• It Works

25. Carlos Rossel, Publisher, The World Bank
crossel@worldbank.org