Access to science and innovation in the developing world☆

We examine the implications of lowering barriers to access to scientific publications for science and innovation in developing countries. Specifically, we investigate whether and how free or low-cost online access to scientific publications through the UN-led Access to Research for Health (Hinari) Programme 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 health science literature increases the scientific publication output and clinical trial output of institutions in developing countries by about 41% and 21%, respectively. We also investigate the Hinari effect on scientific input, as measured by backward citations. Our results indicate that - while Hinari-related papers account for about 9% in total references on average - Hinari increases the average number of Hinari-related articles in total references by about 1 percentage point.