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Health Internetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI)

  • BMJ
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  • Health Internetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI)

“The value of HINARI cannot be overemphasised. It is impossible to conduct meaningful research without access to full text articles of previous research.”

kids_HinariHINARI is the oldest  programme of  the Research4Life  partnership.  This programme  provides free or very low-cost online access to the major journals in   biomedical and related social sciences to local, not-for-profit institutions in developing countries. Over 400 publishers and 175 publisher partners also take part by offering more than 90,000 information resources to help academic researchers and practising physicians access the latest information in their fields.

Impacting healthcare for more than a decade

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As one of the founding members of HINARI, BMJ has provided free access to all of its journals and journals archive to local, not-for-profit institutions in developing countries for over 17 years. This means there is no need for them to subscribe to access the full text; they automatically qualify for free access. BMJ has been giving free online access to HINARI Research4Life (registered institutions with the World Health Organization (WHO) to our journals for 17 years. With other institutions participating in the R4L initiative, resources have collectively been provided to more than 8,900 institutions in 120 low-income countries.

Advancing equity in publishing

At BMJ, we want to support authors from low and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) to publish their research by means of open access in their journal of choice.

  • In 2022, 55.9% of all LMIC-originated research was published open access, up from 36.4% in 2021

In 2022, we also extended our Article Processing Charge (APC) waiver policy:

  • All of our journals now offer waivers, extending our policy to cover not just publication in our fully open access titles, but also in our hybrid and transformative journals
  • The scope of our programme includes 50 more countries, making many more authors eligible
  • Our waiver covers 100% of the publication cost
  • Since implementation in January 2022
    There has been a 130% increase in waivers being granted to authors from LMICs
  • A 45% increase in the number of waived articles published from authors in LMICs
  • And we’ve helped authors in over 20 different LMICs find the right journal for their research – that’s an increase of over 50% for the same period last year

Our updated waiver policy offer waivers for the full Article Processing Charge (APC) with a 100% discount for authors in lower-middle-income countries. We will always consider discount requests from countries not currently covered by that policy on a case-by-case basis.  Visit our BMJ Journals waivers and discounts section to see our full waiver list 2023


The benefits of the HINARI programme are far reaching, and it has been shown to has help many thousands of healthcare workers to create a healthier world. Evidence of that is shown in the results of a survey that BMJ helped R4L conduct with over 1,000 researchers, teachers and health professionals in over 50 countries.  

The results revealed that awareness and usage is high, but areas of improvement include training, promotion and limited use where there are access issues. Those making use of HINARI reported on the positive impact the programme has had on patient care, outcomes, education, and career progression.

  • More than half of respondents said their institution had access and 89% are aware of HINARI
  • Over 72% had accessed HINARI resources, and nearly two thirds of users access content via HINARI at least once a week
  • More than 75% of respondents had not received any training in using the resources
  • Over 40% of respondents had accessed for the first time 5 years ago and the HINARI user base is growing at a fairly constant annual rate
  • Researchers / teachers use the knowledge gained to help with conducting, writing and submitting research for publication, as well as career advancement, and improving teaching content
  • Health professionals stated that HINARI access helps saving lives, improving patient care and safety, improving diagnosis and treatment, as well as career advancement.

Download the overall survey report here 

Headshot of Allison Lang“We’ve always been proud to support the HINARI initiative. BMJ plays an important role as an integral part of the global healthcare community so it’s important to us that we engage in partnerships for improving health in the developing world. At BMJ, we do what we can to realise our vision of helping to create a healthier world. The content we make freely available via HINARI supports this vision by giving health professionals access to the tools and support they need to improve patient outcomes.”

Allison Lang, Publishing Director, BMJ

 

 

Watch how R4L helps charity improve lives of HIV-infected orphans in Zambia.

HINARI is a key programme from the Research4Life initiative, whose partners include four United Nations Agencies, Yale and Cornell University Libraries, the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM), Microsoft, and some 195 publishers worldwide.