Policy guidelines for the development and promotion of open access: “Besides strengthening capacities to adopt Open Access (OA) and to serve as a clearing-house on global OA debate, the 187th session of the Executive Board identified provision of upstream policy advice as the core priority while approving the Open Access Strategy on UNESCO’s contribution to promotion of Open Access to scientific information and research. Building capacities in Member States for Open Access is a necessary but not sufficient condition for promotion of OA. Creating an enabling policy environment in Member States for OA is therefore a priority. The new publication will serve the needs of OA policy development at the government, institutional and funding agency level. The overall objective of the Policy Guidelines is to promote Open Access in Member States by facilitating understanding of all relevant issues related to Open Access. Specifically, it is expected that the document shall:

• enable Member State institutions to review their position on access to scientific information in the light of the Policy Guidelines;
• assist in the choice of appropriate OA policy in the specific contexts of Member States; and
• facilitate adoption of OA policy in research funding bodies and institutions by integrating relevant issues in the national research systems.”