Frequently Asked Questions

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FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

ABOUT AGORA

What is AGORA?
AGORA (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture) is a programme developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and its partners to improve access to scientific information for agriculture sector institutions in developing countries. AGORA provides access to over 900 high-quality, timely, relevant agriculture and life science journals to eligible institutions in qualifying countries.

Who administers AGORA?
AGORA is coordinated by FAO on behalf of its many public and private partners.

When was AGORA started?
Band 1 of AGORA was launched in 2003. Band 2 was launched in September 2006.

How long will AGORA continue?
The publishers are committed to working with AGORA in its current format until the end of 2015.

What do Band 1 and Band 2 mean?
The Bands comprise two groups of countries based on GNI per capita (World Bank, 2005). Institutions in countries selected by the publisher partners with GNI per capita below $1000 (AGORA Band 1) are eligible for free access. Institutions in countries with GNI per capita from $1000-$3000 (AGORA Band 2) pay a fee of $1000 per year per institution.

How much does it cost to use AGORA?
If your institution is in a Band 1 country, then AGORA is free. In Band 2 countries, AGORA costs US $1000 per institution per calendar year (from January through December). This cost remains fixed no matter what point during the calendar year the institution registers.

Who are the partners?
The AGORA partners include the world's leading scientific publishers and other supporting institutions. Around 40 publishers are contributing content to AGORA. The founding publishers are Blackwell Publishing, CABI Publishing, Elsevier Science, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, Nature Publishing Group, Oxford University Press, Springer, and John Wiley. Other partners include Cornell University, the International Association of Scientific Technical and Medical Publishers, and donor agencies including the UK Department for International Development and the Rockefeller Foundation. <List of Partners>

What are the requirements for becoming a partner publisher?
The main requirements for participation are that the journals be in the field of agriculture and life sciences (broadly defined), and that they be available online in their full text version. Please write to us at <agora@fao.org> for further details on submitting your journals to AGORA.

ELIGIBILITY

Who is eligible to register for AGORA?
FAO accepts registrations for AGORA from institutions only in Band 1 and Band 2 countries. FAO does not accept registrations from individuals. Eligible institutions are: universities and colleges, research institutes, professional schools, extension centers and experiment stations, government offices, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and national agricultural libraries.

How can I find out if my country is eligible to participate?
You can consult the list of <eligible countries> that are eligible to participate in AGORA.

How does AGORA determine which countries are eligible?
The eligibility of a country is based on GNI per capita (World Bank, 2005). Institutions in countries with GNI per capita below US$1000 (AGORA Band 1) are eligible for free access. Institutions in countries with GNI per capita between US$1000-US$3000 (AGORA Band 2) pay a fee of US$1000 per year per institution.

Why are some countries not eligible if GNI is less than US$3000?
The publishers participating in AGORA have not, for the time being, extended their offer to countries where they have significant levels of existing subscriptions.

Why are the lists of eligible countries based on 2005 GNI data?
We recognize that the GNI of countries may change from year to year, and we intend to monitor developments with regular reviews. We will publicize any changes that are made to the current criteria that might affect your ability to participate in AGORA.

How can I access information if I live in a developing country that is not eligible for AGORA?
Even if you are not eligible for full access to AGORA, there are many free, full-text references listed on our website (see the "Other free collections" section on the bottom right of our <menu page>). The abstracts of all journals listed on the AGORA website are freely accessible to all users. You do not need a username to access these resources. AGORA does not provide usernames to institutions in countries that are not eligible.

REGISTERING

How can I find out which institutions in my country are participating in AGORA?
If you go to the registration form on our website, in the second paragraph, there is a link to the list of all <registered universities and professional schools> currently using AGORA.

How can I register my institution for AGORA?
If your institution meets the eligibility criteria listed on our website, please complete the online <registration form>. Only one registration is required per institution. We will send your institution instructions for getting started and a <user agreement> to sign with the terms of use. Once the AGORA staff has processed your completed registration form, you will be contacted and given detailed instructions on how to access and use the system. This usually takes two to three weeks. It is essential that your institution complete all of the fields in the registration form with the information requested. Failure to complete all of the fields in the form will result in delays in processing your application.

I am a university professor and my university is not registered for AGORA? May I fill out the online registration form?
Yes, you may. Anyone at an eligible institution may submit a registration form for AGORA on behalf of his/her institution, but once the registration is processed the login instructions and password will be sent to the librarian and senior administrator identified on the registration form. You will need to follow up with them to get the password to start using AGORA.

How long does it take to get a username and password after I register?
Allow two to three weeks for the processing of your application and to receive the username and password, which will be sent to your librarian and senior administrator.

Once an institution is registered, who may use AGORA?
All members (researchers, teaching and administrative staff, students) of a registered institution, and its on-site visitors, are eligible to access AGORA as long as they abide by the guidelines within the license agreement.

Why is the AGORA password so complicated?
The username and password is case sensitive-ensure that you type it in correctly. This is meant to ensure only authenticated users have access to the resources.

Why can't you use IP address for institutions to access AGORA?
The system has been designed to authenticate users from registered institutions using a user ID and password to avoid problems with floating or dynamic IPs. Many of our participating institutions do not have fixed IP addresses.

GETTING STARTED

My institution is registered for AGORA. How do I get the login information?
If you know that your institution is registered, contact your librarian/head of information services or your director. These are the officials who are provided with the login instructions and password. If you cannot locate the appropriate individual at your institutions, contact <agora@fao.org> and you will be given the name of the persons provided with this information.

What equipment do I need in order to use to AGORA?
In order to get started, you will need a computer connected to the Internet with a high-speed (56k baud rate or higher) connection. A higher speed Internet connection will allow for more rapid downloading of article PDF files. The AGORA web site is accessible using MacIntosh- and Windows-based personal computers.

Can AGORA help me obtain computer equipment and online access?
Unfortunately, AGORA cannot help you obtain computer equipment or online access. However, many AGORA users have been able to obtain additional resources from their institutions and/or other local charitable organizations because of this unique opportunity.

I received the username and password but can not log in, what do I do?
Please ensure that you are typing the correct password, if necessary, by cutting and pasting it. If you still can not log in, send a message to us at <agora@fao.org> and we will try to help. We are aware of some technical difficulties with authenticating access to AGORA, and we are working hard to resolve these. We hope to have a new improved authentication system in place by mid-2007.

How can I access a particular journal(s)?
If you know the name of the journal you wish to access, go to the alphabet on the AGORA journals page and click on the letter that corresponds to the first letter of the journal name. This will bring you to a list of all journals offered through AGORA beginning with that letter. Once you locate the title you are searching for, click again, and you will go directly to the journal's homepage.

Can I search by the journal title, author or specific subjects?
Many AGORA online journals can be searched using a special version of CAB Abstracts. This has been designed specifically to provide a structured indexing service just for the journals selected for AGORA, in order to make it possible to search quickly and systematically for available relevant information. Access to CAB Abstracts can be found at <http://www.aginternetwork.org/en/journals/> Links to the <AGRIS > and <AGRICOLA> bibliographic databases are also provided.

I don't have the software to download PDFs. What do I do?
In order to read the PDF full-text of journal articles you will need to download a recent version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7 (the latest) for free from: <http://www.downloadsglobe.com/acrobat/>

Once you have downloaded version 7, you will need to configure it. Here are the directions for configuring Adobe Acrobat Reader version 7:

From the menu bar, select....Edit -> Preferences
Select the 'Internet' category
Ensure all the 'Web Browser Options' (listed below) are checked
- Display PDF in Browser
- Allow fast web view
- Allow speculative downloading in the background

I am just getting started using AGORA, are there training materials available?
We have a suite of training materials available on CD and promotional material in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian. Please email <agora@fao.org> to receive a copy of our Training CD.

USING AGORA

Can I share the AGORA password with colleagues at my institution?
Although you may not put the password on the internet, we would encourage librarians and users to share it with legitimate members of their registered institution. This includes all staff and students, as well as visiting researchers who are all eligible to access AGORA, as long as they abide by the guidelines within the license agreement. Librarians are encouraged to put a link to AGORA on their institution's or library's website. The URL to link to with information about AGORA is <http://www.aginternetwork.org/en/about_agora/>

Can I supply my students with publications printed from AGORA for my courses?
Academic and teaching staff may make copies in print or digital form of articles for course packs. If the copies are supplied in digital form, these electronic copies must be deleted at the end of the semester.

May I download complete journal issues or books?
No. You may not download complete journal issues or books. However, you may download and save limited numbers of articles or chapters from any one journal issue or book, not to exceed 15% of the issue or book.

If I do not see the particular journal(s) I am looking for, can I make suggestions to AGORA?
Yes, we encourage you to send suggestions that will help us to improve AGORA. The purpose of AGORA is to serve its participants. The more feedback we receive from you, the better the system will be able to meet your information needs. Please send your suggestions to <agora@fao.org>

Can I access AGORA outside of my institution?
Access to the journals may only be provided from computers or other digital installations owned by or under the direct control of the institution or from personal computers owned personally by the employees, faculty or students of the institution. However, if a member of your institution encounters a special problem or has a unique need, please let us know immediately so we can work with you to ensure appropriate access is given. AGORA may only be used inside the country in which the institution is registered.

Why can I get full-text access to some journals and not others?
Although the vast majority of the 950 journals are available with full-text articles to all users within registered institutions, there are some exceptions. A few journals are excluded from users within Band 2 countries according to the wishes of the publishers and societies from whom the journals come. If you have any queries about specific titles, please contact us at <agora@fao.org>

Why can't I get access to the full-text of the journal if I link directly from the publisher's website?
To benefit from the access rights provided by AGORA, you need to access the journals by going through the AGORA site and logging in there. Unless you are authenticated on the AGORA site you will not be able to access the AGORA resources.

I am logged on but having problems downloading articles. What should I do?
This may happen when accessing the publishers website and trying to download articles. If you experience problems when accessing AGORA, it may be because you are working on a cached version of our home page stored in your computer or on your local network. The first thing you can do is refresh your screen by clicking on "Refresh" button on your Internet browser tool bar. This may help resolve the problem. Check that the log-in page has not been closed accidentally.

Why are there few French and Portuguese journals in the collection?
The majority of journals in the AGORA collection are in English as provided by the participating publishers. AGORA does not translate journals. We are continuing to add journals to AGORA. Interested publishers of foreign-language agricultural journals should contact <agora@fao.org> for more information.

RELATED PROGRAMMES

What are HINARI and OARE?
<HINARI> and <OARE> are parallel initiatives facilitating access to online journals which are closely coordinated with AGORA. HINARI is administered by the World Health Organization, and OARE by the United National Environment Programme.

How can my institution gain access to HINARI and OARE?
You can find information on how to register for HINARI on their website, at <http://extranet.who.int/hinari/en/registration.php>. Registration for OARE can be completed at their website at <http://oare.oaresciences.org/content/en/registration.php>.

Are there other initiatives for accessing online journals?
In addition to AGORA, HINARI and OARE, there are several other programmes that allow users from developing countries to access online journals free or low-cost. These include the <Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information> (PERI) managed by the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications; <TEEAL> (The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library), managed by Cornell University's Mann Library; Electronic Information for Libraries <(eIFL)>; and the Free Access to Developing Economies programme from <HighWire>. You may find more information on the <Other Initiatives> page. In addition, on the journals page, the "Other Free Collections" section includes links to journals available free to all users.

What is TEEAL?
TEEAL is an annually updated full-text and bibliographic library of 115+ of the world's most important agricultural journals. Content (starting from 1993) can be browsed, searched and downloaded from computers networked in a local area network, without the need for telephones or Internet access.

agora@fao.org