Search WIPO Publications

Access to Research for Development and Innovation (ARDI)

The Access to Research for Development and Innovation (ARDI) program is coordinated by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) together with its partners in the publishing industry with the aim to increase the availability of scientific and technical information in developing countries.

Publication year: 2017

Access to science and innovation in the developing world

Economic Research Working Paper No.78

We examine the implications of lowering barriers to online access to scientific publications for science and innovation in developing countries. We investigate whether and how free or low-cost access to scientific publications through the UN-led Research For Life (R4L) initiative leads to more scientific publications and clinical trials of authors affiliated with research institutions in developing countries. We find that free or reduced-fee access to the health science literature through Hinari (WHO-led subprogramme) increases the scientific publication output and clinical trials output of institutions in developing countries. In contrast, once we control for selection bias, we do not find empirical support for a positive Hinari effect on knowledge spillovers and local institutions' research input into global patenting, as measured by paper citations in patent documents. Main findings can be generalized to other R4L subprogrammes and are likely to also apply to the WIPO-led Access to Research for Development and Innovation (ARDI) programme.

Publication year: 2024