When it comes to biodiversity information, incentives need to be provided to improve international sharing of data, report Tracy Irvine and Daniela Hirschfield.

Smriti Mallapaty looks at an attempt to overcome the difficulties of accessing and understanding environmental and societal information.

Philippe Mawoko, the first head of the African science observatory currently under construction in Equatorial Guinea, speaks to SciDev.Net about the new institution.

Although massive amounts of data from sources such as Landsat have become open access, users face obstacles, says Daniel Schaffer.

A dispute over the HINARI scheme, which gives poor countries free journal access, has exposed the sensitive border between aid and commerce, finds Yojana Sharma.

With proper supervision, developing countries' students can excel and contribute to science research, as the recent TB genome mapping shows.

Leslie Chan, Barbara Kirsop and Subbiah Arunachalam give a comprehensive background to the need for open access publishing.