STAR is raising up researchers in emerging economies

Luke Huxtable, Marketing Specialist, Network Marketing, Taylor & Francis, Oxfordshire

As part of our Developing Countries Working Group, which exists to explore ways we can support those countries, this year we rebooted the Special Terms for Authors & Researchers (better known as STAR). This initiative provides researchers in low-income countries with free access to leading journals. STAR aims to build relationships with these researchers as current or prospective authors. We see it as one part of an individual’s journey with us, while supporting the research community around access in the face of financial, technological or other challenges.

Blazing a trail

In 2018 we doubled-down on our commitment to STAR by enabling easier enrolment and instantaccess, and expanding the number of eligible countries. Once researchers have signed up, weenable access to top research in their areas of interestand advice on getting published. We grant free access to up to 50 Taylor & Francis online articles per year (and more if they run out of credits).

Lifting people up

These efforts have already started paying off – wesaw 665 new registrants in 2018 (2017: 432; 2016: 105) and hope to beat that number in 2019. Yaw Owusu-Agymeman, a STAR researcher who works on increasing support for adult learners in the telecoms and energy sectors in Ghana, mirrors many comments we hear: “STAR has helped me update my references with new knowledge from other researchers.” We’re thrilled to have seen real enthusiasm for the initiative, not just from researchers and authors, but from journal editors and societies. We’re excited about the future of STAR as part of our commitment to Publishers for Development alongside other initiatives like www.Research4Life.org and www.INASP.org.uk. We are continuing to try to promote the widest possible distribution of journals across developing countries.