OAR@UM and open access in Malta : five years on

Abstract

The paper looks at the development of Open Access (OA) in the smallest EU member state of Malta over the course of the past five years. Aside from providing a chronological overview of key activities undertaken within the above specified period with the goal of putting the underlying theoretical principles of OA into practice, it places an emphasis on OAR@UM, the University of Malta (UM) Institutional Repository (IR) as the backbone of OA in Maltese Islands. The paper provides a direct link between the technological expansion of the IR and its growing importance to the local and worldwide academic community, while pinpointing and discussing the key aspects of its success and identifying the possible future course of local OA solutions.