2024 is a very important year for FORM as we aim to grow our Community Development Activity series and develop specific types of events to benefit all our different stakeholders groups. We launched the Community Development Activity series in 2023, with 8 collaborative events organised in partnership with some of the most important and influential non-profit companies and NGO groups involved in Open Science around

One of our core goals is to support the development of “accessible and localized resources relating to the implementation of Open Science policies and practises” in higher education and research communities. The historic absence of a pan-regional open science vocabulary is one of the key challenges to the growth of Open Science practises faced by our research communities. It is crucial to the advancement of

Our mission is to support the advancement of Open Science policies and practises in research communities across the whole Arab region. We are therefore particularly excited to welcome the Libyan Authority for Scientific Research (LASR) as the newest member of the Forum for Open Research in MENA. LASR is the government agency responsible for promoting and supporting scientific research in Libya. The organisation’s activities include

We are delighted to welcome the Open Science Community Saudi Arabia (OSCSA) as our newest a member. Our members are institutions and organisations committed to advancing Open Science policies and practises within research communities across the Arab region, empowering researchers, librarians and policymakers to collaborate on activities, projects and resources that promote engagement with, and the generation of, open research – enabling them to better serve the

After an unprecedented volume of excellent submissions from researchers, librarians and policy makers from across the world, all keen to share their insights and experiences on the theme of Democratizing Knowledge: The evolution of open science ecosystems and communities in the Arab World, we have decided to expand our programme to include an additional day of online-only papers. The 2nd Annual Forum (2023) will take place

Our Call for Papers for the 2023 Annual Forum received so many excellent submissions from librarians, researchers, funders and policy makers across the region, along with leading open science solutions providers – we have decided to extend the Annual Forum and add a third day to the proceedings. The event will now start on the evening of the 22nd of October, with a Welcome Drinks

We are delighted to welcome the Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research (AQF) as a Member of FORM. As an international alliance of higher education institutions, research libraries, and other research communities based within the Arab region, we are comprised of a diverse array of stakeholder groups involved in the academic research and scholarly communications ecosystems. As a leading regional funder

As the date of the 2023 Annual Forum draws closer, we are delighted to announce the first of our Keynote Speakers: Heather Joseph, Executive Director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC). SPARC is an international coalition of academic and research libraries promoting the open sharing of knowledge. Under her stewardship, SPARC has become the leading advocacy organization promoting innovative open and equitable

Our Call for Papers for this year’s Annual Forum has closed, and we are delighted to have received a record number of submissions for papers and round tables, with almost 100 submissions from 25 countries across the Arab region and beyond (in addition to the expert contributions of our invited speakers and keynote presenters). We want to thank all the scholars, scientists, librarians and open

In 2022, we were honoured to have UNESCO as our Advisory Partner for the first Annual Forum. In addition to providing expert guidance and support, UNESCO gave one of our keynote presentations and sponsored a fantastic and thought-provoking panel, covering three core topics from the Open Science Recommendation list. Dr. Ezra Clark, UNESCO – “Open Science Policies and Strategies” Dr. Yousef Torman, ASREN – “Building