Electronic publishing of peer-reviewed biomedical research: should we ban

paper journals?

Andrew Vickers

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Why publish scientific research?

• Dissemination of information

– scientific results need to be used, read, cited, shared, applied, extended, built-upon

• Furthering of careers

The current process

• The scientific community:

– Funds, conducts, analyzes, writes up and peer reviews research

• Paper journals:

– Sell freely donated information by restricting access to it

Problem 1: System is unjust

• The scientific community does the work

• Publishing companies profit

• For example:

– Why does an author have to buy back the right to distribute their own research? (e.g. $600 for 200 reprints)

Problem 2: Access is restricted

• How does the scientific literature help:

– A community doctor seeking information about the care of a patient

– A patient interested in the result of a clinical trial

– A doctor in a developing country (subscriptions typically 25 – 50% of median yearly wage)?

Problem 3: dissemination is inefficient

• Photocopying of journals stored in a library (or posting of reprints) is time consuming, expensive and inefficient

• Following up citations is time consuming

• No connection with subsequent research, comments, errors etc.

Problem 4: Paper publishing is extremely expensive

• The scientific community pays for each article published by buying subscriptions

• Cost per article increased 2.6 fold from 1975 – 1995 adjusted for inflation

• How much does the scientific community pay per article?

Cost to publish an article

• Most estimates are approximately $5000

Journal Circulation SubscriptionArticles /

yrCost / article

Annals of surgery 9250 $190/ $475 210 $16700

Cancer Nursing 3250 $75/ $169 120 $3700

Epidemiology 1850 $204/ $403 225 $2800

Neurosurgery 9000 $345/ $472 370 $10400

Total cost of publishing biomedical papers

• Each year Medline indexes ~375,000 papers

• Say 15% are letters, lay press etc. = 315,000 research papers @ $5,000

• Total cost: ~ $1,600 m / yr

• Cost per scientist: $8 – 12,000 / yr (including library costs)?

Problem: Environmentally unsound

• Journal of Clinical Oncology has 26,000 subscribers, 24 times / yr

• 16 stacks of journals each as high as the Empire State Building

• Must be transported and filed

Problem: Slow

• Journals must wait for an appropriate slot to become available given limited journal space

• Typical turnaround between submission and publication 6 – 12 months

In sum:

• Paper journals are:

– Inequitable

– Inaccessible

– Inefficient

– Extortionate

– Inexpedient

– Unenvironmental

– Dispensable?

Do we need paper journals?

• 20 years ago, only a journal could disseminate information.

• Journals provided a necessary service

• Do we need paper journals in the Internet age?

Electronic Publishing

• Show the BMJ online

– A paper, a PDF, rapid responses, comments, corrections etc.

– http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/322/7302/1574 example of citation

– http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/325/7377/1408 example of correction

• Question: do we need the paper version?

BioMed Central

• Publication of peer reviewed biomedical research on the Internet only*

*Paper copy on request

Advantages

• Easy online submission

• Peer reviewed

• Open access

• Copyright retained

• Indexed by Medline

• Rapid publication (4 – 10 weeks)

• Secure archiving

• Track readership

• Include data

Example of a BMC paper

• http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/3/32

Pre-publication history(and a post-publication correction)

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11459516&dopt=Abstract

Electronic publishing means easy and efficient submission

Has anybody read it?

• Most papers on BioMed Central average >400 hits / month

– In one year, readership likely to be far greater than with conventional publishing

• Not unusual to get 2-4000 hits / month

• http://www.biomedcentral.com/my/

Purpose of scientific publishing 2: Furthering academic careers

• Career points are gained by publishing in high profile (paper) journals

• Will this limit the impact of electronic publishing?

• If so, for how long?