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The National Research Environment

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Science oversees education and research in Bulgaria. The legal framework for founding of higher education institutions is set by the Law of Higher Education. According to Article 9 of this Law, the Parliament (Narodno sabranie) plays the key role in decision making about matters, that concern the network of higher education institutions in the country. 

Major research funders

The major research funder in Bulgaria is the National Science Fund.  Promotion of Open Access is more of an individual effort, than the result of institutional support or policy.

The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), the coordinator of research in Bulgaria, intends to establish a network of scientific Open Access centres. Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences(IMI-BAS) will be the coordinator of the Bulgarian network and will provide support for academic institutions and researchers. IMI-BAS will launch a national project to develop the research infrastructure and digital repositories for researchers, educators, public bodies and companies who need contemporary scientific and education information and resources. This will foster integration between academia, the public sector and industry, as well as strengthen the institutional links between all major research and education organizations (Universities, Institutes of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, etc).

Open Access and Repositories

Bulgarian research community is informed about the benefits of open access and uses open access research publications.

There is a certain level of awareness among libraries, especially university libraries, though still very few institutions are involved in managing the repositories.

Open Access repositories

As of March 2016 there are 7 Open Access Bulgarian repositories in OpenDOAR.

1)Bulgarian OpenAIRE Repository

Bulgarian OpenAIRE Repository -http://www.bg-openaire.euis a centralized cross-institutional repository and provides OpenAIRE compliance and free access to all peer-reviewed publications resulting from ERC funded FP7 projects in Bulgaria.

2) New Bulgarian University

NBU Scholar Electronic Repository - http://eprints.nbu.bgis the first digital repository of scientific literature in Bulgaria. Faculty members can deposit their papers. Currently there are 565 publications with free online access. The New Bulgarian University encourages faculty members to deposit their research outputs into the repository. 

3) Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Repository at IMI-BAS - http://sci-gems.math.bas.bg is based on DSpace software with an active and configured OAI-PMH interface for metadata harvesting. There are more than 2100 publications from journals, conference  books and reports:

  • Serdica Journal of Computing
  • Serdica Mathematical Journal
  • Mathematica Balkanica New Series
  • Pliska Studia Mathematica Bulgarica
  • Fractional Calculus and Applied Analysis
  • International Journal Information Theories and Applications
  • International Journal Information Technologies and Knowledge

4) University of Sofia "St. Kliment Ohridski"

Research at Sofia University - http://research.uni-sofia.bg There are initiatives at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" to support the development of Open Access. There is a digital repository for the main research outputs of the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics. Other faculties are expected to join soon.

5) Medical University of Sofia (MUS)

The Central Medical Library - http://www.medun.acad.bg was established in 1918. Today, it is an independent institution within the structure of the Medical University of Sofia (MUS) and has its 90-year experience in providing information resources and services for education, research, and professional practice. New open access repository started at address http://nt-cmb.medun.acad.bg:8080/jspui/ Repository is in process of building, for content is planned to include  summaries of PhD theses, dissertations, electronic books, lectures, journal articles and CML-journal publications.

6) Burgas Free University (BFU)

Academic Research Repository at the Burgas Free University - http://www.bfu.bg The research portal of BFU  http://research.bfu.bg contains a collection of articles published in the Year-Books of BFU, articles from magazine “Biznes Posoki” and magazine “Contemporary Humanitaristics”, papers from international conferences of BFU, as well as articles, studies, papers and monographs of lecturers from BFU, published in other scientific editions. This site provides access to the research output of the institution. The interface is available in Bulgarian and English. Users may set up RSS feeds to be alerted to new content.

Open Access publishing

There are 35 Bulgarian Open Access journals from 10 publishers listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ): http://www.doaj.org/

Open Access Organisations and Groups

Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IMI-BAS): Peter L. Stanchev, Ph.D., D.Sc., Professor and chair of Computer Systems Department, e-mail: pstanche[@]kettering.edu

Bulgarian Information Consortium (BIC) / Български информационен консорциум with 38 members - 26 universities, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1 agency, 3 National and Centrl libraries, 4 Public libraries, and 3 NGO - Radostina Todorova, New Bulgarian University Library, eIFL-OA country coordinator, rtodorova[@]nbu.bg.

Contributors Contact Details

Peter L. Stanchev, Ph.D., D.Sc.
Professor and Chair of Software Engineering and Computer Systems Department
Institute of Mathematics and Informatics
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
8 G. Bonchev Str., 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
e-mail: stanchev[@]math.bas.bg
WWW URL: http://www.math.bas.bg/~stanchev
e-mail: pstanche[@]kettering.edu
WWW URL: http://paws.kettering.edu/~pstanche/

Georgi S. Simeonov,
Reseacher at Software Engineering and Computer Systems Department
Institute of Mathematics and Informatics
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
8 G. Bonchev Str., 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria
e-mail: gsimeonov[@]math.bas.bg

Radostina Todorova
Organisation: New Bulgarian University Library
Email: rtodorova [@] nbu.bg
eIFL.net consortium: Bulgarian Information Consortium (BIC)