QScience set to connect research with the world
18 July 2011
QScience, the scientific online publisher, has embarked on an ambitious research initiative to bring findings of studies done in Qatar worth over $100m to the academic world.
"We use latest technologies in QScience to collaborate with scientific researchers in other parts of the world," said Arend Küster, Managing Director, Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Journals.
"It is done as a part of connecting Qatar with the international research community," he said.
QScience.com's advanced technology makes research findings readily accessible and searchable. It is also the first scholarly research platform to make journal abstracts available in both English and Arabic.
The website will soon introduce new features to attract more researchers and readers.
In the coming months it will have video articles; make facilities for the readers to leave comments about the articles and work with stakeholders to make the site more interactive and make it a knowledge sharing platform.
"We want to have many more articles and be innovative. We want to have more video articles. One more upgrade will enable people to leave comments on the articles," said Kuster.
"We need to attract researchers so we like to push the boundaries," he said.
QScience, is also looking for future collaborations with Qatar University, Hamad Medical Corporation and Qatar National Research Survey (QNRS). With QNRS, QScience will seek permission to publish full text of studies done by Qatari academics.
"It's the most innovative thing we are doing here; we are marrying up an institutional repository with an existing journals programme. We are clearing the rights to have full text access to search done by Qatari researchers and funded by Qatar, which will be great repository of the growing rich tapestry of research for Qatar," said Küster.
Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Journals launched its own open access platform, QScience.com, in December 2010 to bring high quality scholarly communication and academic publishing to the Middle East. The online journal is trying to address the challenges of the international research community and reflect those in the development of new scholarly journals and information routes.
QScience.com already hosts eight scholarly journals covering diverse subject areas such as cardiology, information and library studies, sustainable energy, education, Middle Eastern healthcare, design and Islamic studies. More journals are scheduled to be added throughout 2011.
Article appeared in The Peninsula, 18 July 2011 – Qatar