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The World Bank today announced a new Open Access policy for research conducted in-house or supported by its grants.  Beginning July 1, the bank will “require open access under copyright licensing from Creative Commons—a non-profit organization whose copyright licenses are designed to accommodate the expanded access to information afforded by the Internet.”  The default license to be used will be the CC-BY license, which allows anyone to copy, distribute, adopt, or make commercial use of the work, under the condition of attribution.

The World Bank also announced the creation of its Open Knowledge Repository, described as “a one-stop-shop for most of the Bank’s research outputs and knowledge products, providing free and unrestricted access to students, libraries, government officials and anyone interested in the Bank’s knowledge. Additional material, including foreign language editions and links to datasets, will be added in the coming year.”

The formal policy document describing the World Bank Open Access Policy is here.

In a statement on the Creative Commons Blog, CC Board Member and co-0founder Larry Lessig said: “The World Bank is not only leading by embracing the principles of open access. But by making its works available under a CC BY license, it is encouraging the widest spread of the knowledge it is producing. This work is incredibly valuable in assuring access to knowledge universally, and not just at elite universities.”