Message from Eve Grey "Is open access helping to reverse this global divide [in education and academic research] by increasing the exposure of developing country research? And what strategies are being used to achieve this goal? ... There are a number of questions that arise - most cogently, how has this focus on journals worked for the developing world? Often the rhetoric for supporting either green or gold OA has been the advantage in getting higher citation rates in the ISI. Is this what we should be aiming for? ... But also, should we be focusing on journals? If we step away from developing world practices, what are the real publishing needs that face us?" Eve Gray wrote the above section introducing the ongoing WSIS Knowledge Communities discussion on 'Is Open Access Only for Rich Countries?' The discussion will advance through the next weeks, focusing on the following issues: translation, co-production and increasing access to academic materials; importance of OA in producing and sharing of non-state-supported educational materials; OA in academia and the search for global prestige; the perverse impact of metrics and rankings; scholarly knowledge production, sharing and consumption challenges in developing countries. Please let us invite you to follow and participate in this crucial debate about open access, education and the developing world. Link to the debate: http://www.wsis-community.org/pg/forum/topic/586392/is-open-access-only-for-... You can also participate in the discussion on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Open-Access-debates/356010021156418 Or tweet about it using the hashtag #developoa -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.