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v2026.1714 entries · CC-BY 4.0
Dictionary termTrack EStablev2026.2

AmeliCA (concept)

Open Knowledge for Latin America and the Global South, a multi-institutional initiative launched in 2018 that develops infrastructure, policies and advocacy for non-commercial, community-led open-access scholarly communication.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board
· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

  • Is an instance

    A Latin American humanities journal adopts the Marcalyc XML toolkit developed by AmeliCA.

  • Is an instance

    A national consortium uses AmeliCA's policy framework when designing a regional OA strategy.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

  • Not an instance

    Designing an OA mandate that would force Latin American journals to adopt APCs, contrary to AmeliCA principles.

  • Not an instance

    Citing AmeliCA only as a developing-region case rather than as a global model.

Editorial commentary

AmeliCA (Conocimiento Abierto para America Latina y el Sur Global) was founded by Redalyc-UAEM, CLACSO, UNESCO, the University of Antioquia and other partners. It promotes diamond OA models, multilingual scholarship, and infrastructure independence from commercial vendors. Notable outputs include its critique of Plan S's reliance on APC business models, its publishing-platform tooling (XML-based Marcalyc), and advocacy materials supporting Latin American policy positions in international OA forums. It is one of the most-cited counterweights to Northern, APC-driven OA reform narratives.

References

  • amelica.org. Becerril-Garcia A, Aguado-Lopez E 'AmeliCA: A community-driven sustainable framework' 2018.

Also known as

AmeliCA · Open Knowledge for Latin America and the Global South

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element
xml
<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="AmeliCA (concept)"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/amelica-concept" />
Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)
json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "name": "AmeliCA (concept)",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/amelica-concept",
  "description": "Open Knowledge for Latin America and the Global South, a multi-institutional initiative launched in 2018 that develops infrastructure, policies and advocacy for non-commercial, community-led open-access scholarly communication.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/knowledge-equity-diversity-global-south-inclusion/",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/amelica-concept",
  "sameAs": [
    "AmeliCA",
    "Open Knowledge for Latin America and the Global South"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}

Adopted by research universities worldwide

University of Cambridge logoColumbia University logoUniversity of Edinburgh logoHarvard University logoMassachusetts Institute of Technology logoUniversity of Oxford logoPrinceton University logoStanford School of Medicine logoUniversity College London logoUniversity of Cambridge logoColumbia University logoUniversity of Edinburgh logoHarvard University logoMassachusetts Institute of Technology logoUniversity of Oxford logoPrinceton University logoStanford School of Medicine logoUniversity College London logo
  • University of Cambridge logo
  • Columbia University logo
  • University of Edinburgh logo
  • Harvard University logo
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology logo
  • University of Oxford logo
  • Princeton University logo
  • Stanford School of Medicine logo
  • University College London logo

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