BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The China Association for Science and Technology has called on the country's sci-tech journal publishers to contribute to the COVID-19 database of the World Health Organization (WHO), sharing research data and experience to aid the fight against the pandemic.

The association released the initiative on its website Wednesday, saying that authorizing the WHO to use original metadata of Chinese COVID-19-related research papers is an effort to offer China's research progress and prevention experience more thoroughly and widely to global medical experts and scientists.

The WHO has provided the authorization letter and designated its "Collaborating Center for Guideline Implementation and Knowledge Translation" established in China's Lanzhou University to collect metadata published in Chinese journals for the organization's database, the association said.

The WHO's COVID-19 database will be accessible to the public and free of any access charges.

China has been actively sharing scientific knowledge and research results about COVID-19 with the world.

The Chinese government has previously set up multiple platforms releasing COVID-19 academic research, diagnosis and treatment guidelines for global scientists and the public. It also encourages Chinese researchers to publish their findings in international journals.

Chinese health care experts have held various online and offline conferences with their foreign peers to exchange COVID-19 treatment experience, develop testing kits and adopt response measures.  ■