scholars towards open access
DESCRIPTION
This paper reviews and analyzes the impact of Open Access (OA) publishing on medical research work. The aim is to establish, through literature review, how digital resources might provide an opportunity to house future medical scholarship outputs and the advantages or disadvantages versus traditional publishing.TRANSCRIPT
Francesca CoraggioAdvanced Reference
MLIS 17:610:596Final Paper
December 8, 2010
Towards Open Access: the medical scholarly publishing
‘Open access will… enable scientists to begin transforming scientific literature
into something far more useful than the electronic equivalent of millions of
individual articles in rows of journals on library shelves. The ability to search, in
an instant, an entire scientific library for particular terms or concepts, for
methods, data, and images – and instantly retrieve the results – is only the
beginning.’
Michael Elsen, Co-Founder, Public Library of Science
ABSTRACT
This paper reviews and analyzes the differences between traditional and
“new models” of publication and the impact of Open Access (OA) publishing on
medical research work. The aim is to establish, through literature review, how
digital resources might provide an opportunity to house future medical
scholarship outputs and the advantages or disadvantages versus traditional
publishing. It examines how OA, free from all access barriers, would allow for the
widest possible dissemination of scholarly work. In this scenario, learning to
discern online publishing becomes crucial. Librarians can play major roles in
connection with the OA movement.
This paper outlines some of the myriad of Internet resources currently
available to the medical field and the validity of those sources both to
researchers and authors to acquire and disseminate knowledge without going
through the traditional peer-review process. The criticism of the free, online
models that lack quality control offered by traditional publishing is discussed and
OA publishing is validated as a new way of delivering quality journals that are
vital to scholarly research.
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Introduction
As a source of subject-oriented information, the Internet is a powerful tool
and currently, there is virtually no subject that cannot be found on the Internet in
one form or another.
Academic users are “special seekers and disseminators” of information.
The use of electronic resources for scholarship flourishes and is becoming
increasingly vital for education and training in academic environments. Scholars
are experimenting with participation in new models of digital publishing.
How can we value new forms of scholarship and compare it to the traditional
model of monograph and journal? New forms are increasingly part of the
everyday reality of research and scholarship.
What kinds of quality control practices are used? How the medical scholars
behave in relation to it? Some studies have been done and many undergoing.
Some new models have become embedded in disciplinary communication
practices. Regularity of use by a community of scholars will make those new
models successful.
Towards Open Access
Scholars and researchers are prone to change their way of sharing new
knowledge. In fact the use and contribution to new kinds of works in their field is
increasing. Scholars themselves invented the scholarly journals, now they are
taking the lead in inventing a new generation of scholarly outputs.
The new forms of publications are accessible to end users directly, and
many of these resources have become essential tools for scholars conducting
research, building scholarly networks, and disseminating their ideas and work.
In 2005, the Center for Studies in Higher Education embarked on a study
about the future of scholarly communication. The report was published in 2010
“Assessing the Future Landscape of Scholarly Communication: An Exploration of
Faculty Values and Needs in Seven Disciplines” (Harley, D., Akord, S. K., Earl-
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Novell, S., Lawrence, S., & King, C. J, 2010). One of the findings in relation to
requirements needed for tenure and promotion the report states: “There are
virtually no surprises here. As we found in the planning study, peer-reviewed
prestige publications are the ‘coin of the realm’ in tenure and promotion
decisions” (p. 7).
On the other hand, the study revealed that scholars see the new
publishing models as being needed for shorter “monographs” in some humanistic
disciplines and longer articles in the sciences. Other constraints of traditional
models are the exclusion of high quality images and other supporting materials.
In addition there is a lack of linking final publications directly to data sets and/or
primary source material.
The urge to support OA comes from many organizations.
“When departments evaluate scholarly publications for purposes of hiring,
reappointment, tenure, and promotion, the standing of an electronic journal
should be judged according to the same criteria used for a print journal” (MLA,
2003). Also the Statement of Scientists and Scientific Societies working group
(2003) reports that, “Scientists agree to advocate changes in promotion and
tenure evaluation in order to recognize the community contribution of open
access publishing and to recognize the intrinsic merit of individual articles without
regard to the titles of the journals in which they appear.”
The American Philological Association Task Force on Electronic Publishing
(2008) recognizes the importance of digital format as a valid alternative to
communicate and access research and primary resources. Electronic publishing
offers a new market in the dissemination of the Humanities scholarly work, in
particular for housing the production of monographs that at present are neglected
by university libraries because of budget constraints. The American Society for
Cell Biology (ASCB) promotes the use of OA publishing because it offers “free
and timely access to scientific literature.” Scientific research depends on the
experiments of others and is informed by the results of others. The scientific
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community wants to ensure that research results are disseminated immediately.
Electronic publication of research results offers the opportunity to share research
results as well as ideas with the scientific community and the general public. The
scientific research is taxpayer-funded and therefore should be made available
immediately. ASBC also observes that publishers shouldn’t be afraid of OA as
they would still make a profit, for example by giving a “short embargo period that
protects subscription revenue.”
Differences between traditional and “new models” of publication
“Scholarly” resources are those authored by and for the scholarly
community. This definition includes a wide variety of resources, from peer-
reviewed publications like print journals and e-only journals, to websites where
scholars would share casual information or thoughts-in-progress, including
discussion forums or blogs. Perhaps studies should also take into consideration
popular-interest resources, such as YouTube and Wikipedia.
While scholarly society journals and university presses still the major form
of scholarly publishing, many new digital scholarly resources have appeared.
Blogs, Wikis, and other forms of online publishing and discussion now appear in
every discipline. Some of these digital resources resemble their print
predecessors such as the e-journals, others are very innovative and “original”,
making use of the space, speed, and interactivity that the Internet allows.
New formats:
It is possible to identify eight principal types of digital scholarly resources:
E-only journals
Reviews
Preprints and working papers
Repositories
Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and annotated content
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Data
Discussion forums (Wikis, Blogs, Newsgroups)
Professional and scholarly hubs
Copyright
With the Open Access model authors are allowed to maintain copyright
over their articles. Authors are often required to license the articles according to
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows anyone to
download, reuse, reprint, redistribute, or copy them, as long as the original
authors and source are credited.
Authors are encouraged to anticipate their future needs and to retain the rights
they need in order to optimize dissemination of their research. Some of these
rights include:
use part of the work as a basis for a future publication
send copies of the work to colleagues
present the work at conference or meeting and give copies of the work to
attendees
use a different or extended version of the work for a future publication
make copies of the work for personal use and educational use
self-archive the work in an institutional repository
Under the traditional academic publication model an author usually transfers all
ownership and rights to a publisher. This way their ability to control their work
decreases and lose the rights to use the work without permission from the
publisher. Today things are changing, some publishers allow for unrestricted
dissemination of the work to colleagues, unlimited copies for personal use,
posting of the final published version on an institutional web site or subject
repository.
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Access
The digital environment offers many new kinds of works that are
accessible to end users directly, and many of these resources have become
essential tools for scholars conducting research, building scholarly networks, and
disseminating their ideas and work. The new models provide access to the most
current research, facilitate exchange among scholars as well as support co-
location of works.
Quality Control
One of the most valued functions of a journal to ensure quality control is
peer-review. Some concerns persist in the academy that publication in e-only
journals will be perceived as less prestigious than publishing in print. One
recurring question among researchers is if the publication will be considered
legitimate by a tenure review board. Misperceptions about the level of peer-
review of open access publications have contributed to these concerns, although
leaders of the Open Access movement have continued to argue that quality and
cost are not synonymous, and that notions of access and prestige can be
separated. Online journal publishers take the same measures of legitimacy and
excellence. Long-established scholarly publishers through longevity enjoy
reputation.
Publication cost
This varies from journal to journal. For example PLOS costs more than
(PLOS) US$2000.
The amount is a concern when considering the cost of the research that led to
the article. Publication fees are a small fraction of the costs of doing research,
and it makes sense for funding agencies to include these fees in research grants.
Many funding agencies now support this view. For a detailed view of Journals
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and their standard article-processing charge see table 1 at the end of this paper
(Biomed Central website tracks journals cost. It is one of the best sources of up-
to-date information: http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/about/apcfaq#howmuch).
Publication speed
The vast majority of journals never release their content. Furthermore,
timeliness of publication is very important—to readers and to authors—and even
a 6- to 12-month delay is detrimental to research, especially in the biomedical
sciences. Open Access is a more efficient, and effective means to disseminate
scientific and medical literature. As soon as it is published, a research paper can
and should be available to all.
Value in Academic world
Although new digital publications emerge every year, many of the most
popular and most robust resources have been in existence for years. Given the
importance of longevity in establishing scholarly reputation, the necessity of
building an audience to attract high-quality content, and the time it takes to fine-
tune a digital resource, even excellent new digital publications may need years to
establish their place in their scholarly community.
Other Features
Innovations relating to multimedia and Web 2.0 content and functionality
are encouraging the emergence of new types of publications.
Although many of the digital scholarly resources are primarily text-based, we also
see examples that incorporated multimedia technology and networking tools to
create new and innovative works.
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Challenges of searching for new models
The decentralized distribution of these new digital resources can make it
difficult to fully appreciate their range and number, even for university librarians
tasked with being familiar with valuable resources across the disciplines.
Scholars are both the producers of and the audience for digital scholarly
communications. While many of the ways in which scholars contribute to print
publications also exist in the digital world – writing and peer-reviewing articles,
editing journals, reviewing books, etc. – electronic media also facilitates new
forms of scholarly contributions. Examples of this include moderating a
discussion list, contributing data to a shared repository, posting thoughts and
annotations on a blog, or editing a Wiki.
It is imperative to catalog and cite scholarly content in familiar ways while still
facilitating more rapid dissemination of content.
There is a need for databases that include OA resources and other intensive
resource development.
The Internet offers a vast amount of journals and books where the best
sellers are on the surface. It would be nice if all web sites would be catalogued
into ”one huge library database”. Web feeds are an important step for semantic
web. The most common formats are RSS, ATOM and PodCast. Also
FeedNavigator collects web feed-data and allows using this data in many ways
(http://www.terkko.helsinki.fi/feednavigator/)
Assessing the credibility of the resources
Five basic elements often are required in the electronic resources that
academic information seekers desire: accessibility, timeliness, readability,
relevance, and authority. The Internet excels in the first three, but depending on
how and from where the information is gathered, it may not be so reliable with
regard to the last two elements.
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New models contribute to the area of interest.
While many scholarly resources combine several types of formal and
informal content, we found that most of the original scholarly resources in our
sample featured one primary content type. Although e-only journals were well-
represented across the disciplines, different content types stood out in each
broad subject area (see appendix “current model report” ithaka ). The science,
technical, and medical (STM) fields resources – data sites and e-journals were
most often named – seemed to be valued for providing access to new research;
Sites that enable access to and publication of data seem especially
important in the STM field. Within the group of STM-focused sites, the largest
group by far was of these data resources, followed by e-only journals and
professional and scholarly hubs. Faculty members told librarians that other
aspects they appreciated in these sites included news and alerts about
publications, conferences, and other developments in the field; and access to
different types of content including data, primary source material, reviews, and
teaching materials.
E-only journals
Despite their relative infancy in the field, open access journals are ranking
high in an impact factor studies done by ISI. Among the titles scoring high are
Respiratory Research, PLoS Biology, Breast Cancer Research and Critical Care.
This resource resembles their print forbearers, including credibility, prestige,
tenure and promotion decisions.
PLoS, a collection of online journals in the biological sciences, includes
the option to comment on an article and encourages both peer commentary and
responses by an article’s author. The digital environment allows to accelerate the
speed of publication and the peer-review process, and to explore the possibilities
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of including new media formats. Often traditional journals may limit publication to
research articles of 6,000 to 10,000 words.
Experimentation with peer-review among e-journals has become more
common. The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine is the official journal of
the California Chapter of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and the
California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. WestJEM
is now indexed in PubMed with full text in PubMed Central
(http://escholarship.org/uc/uciem_westjem) and developed an online training
module for reviewers.
Many of e-only journals includes some form of multimedia content. In many
journals, the digital environment enables the publication of data visualizations,
large data sets, or audio and video clips that serve to illustrate the text of
scholarly articles. A few publications, like JoVE: Journal of Visualized
Experiments are making multimedia a more central element of the work.
However, it is worth noting that the pressures of traditional scholarly publishing
may affect the opportunities for an e-only journal to innovate in this way.
Interviews with Moshe Pritsker, CEO, and Nikita Bernstein, CTO of JoVE:
Journal of Visualized Experiments, August 15, 2008. Following our interview,
JoVE was accepted for indexing in MEDLINE and PubMED, the official
databases maintained by the National Library of Medicine.
JoVE refers to its contributions as “video-articles.” JoVE seeks to speed
knowledge transfer that takes place in laboratories. While the “methods and
materials” section of a scientific article currently serves this function, it is difficult
to re-create experiments, a critical aspect of the scientific process. As they point
out on the Web site, “written word and static picture-based traditional print
journals are no longer sufficient to accurately transmit the intricacies of modern
research.”
Independent titles usually tend to be Open Access. Even when editorial
labor is donated, however, publications still need to generate revenue to support
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costs such as Web hosting and copy editing. Many of the e-only journals have in-
kind support from their host institution, in the form of server space, technical
support, or the contributed staff time of programmers. Other revenue-generating
strategies included soliciting donations from readers, advertising, and
(particularly in STM fields) author fees.
A short list of e-Journals (via subscription) is given below:
The BMJ (British Medical Journal - http://www.bmj.com/) is an
international peer reviewed medical journal and a fully “online first” publication.
Their publishing model—”continuous publication”— means that all articles appear
on bmj.com before being included in an issue of the print journal. The website is
updated daily with the BMJ’s latest original research, education, news, and
comment articles, as well as podcasts, videos, and blogs.
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment is a scientific journal available via
subscription. Its focus is on the treatment of and investigations in breast cancer.
It is targeted towards a wide audience of clinical researchers, epidemiologists,
immunologists, or cell biologists interested in breast cancer.
The types of articles in this journal include original research, invited reviews,
discussions on controversial issues, book reviews, meeting reports, letters to the
editors, and editorials. Manuscripts are peer reviewed by an international and
multidisciplinary panel of advisory editors.
The British Journal of Cancer (http://www.nature.com/bjc/index.html) a
twice-monthly professional medical journal of Cancer Research UK (a registered
charity in the United Kingdom).
The British Journal of Cancer (BJC) provides a forum for clinicians and scientists
to communicate original research findings that have relevance to understanding
the etiology of cancer and to improving patient treatment and survival. Once
accepted, papers are published in print and online.
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Critical Care Medicine
(http://journals.lww.com/ccmjournal/pages/default.aspx) is a peer-reviewed
medical journal in the field of critical care medicine.
It is the official publication of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, and is
published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Society of Critical Care Medicine
members can access the full content of Critical Care Medicine. The Journal also
publishes Ahead-of-Print.
The International Journal of Surgery is a peer-reviewed scientific journal
available via subscription through Elsevier. It covers all aspects of clinical
surgery, experimental surgery, surgical education, and history. It appears four
times a year and contains research papers, editorials, and review articles, as well
as a forum for the exchange of ideas through a correspondence section.
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), available via
subscription, is an international peer-reviewed general medical journal, published
48 times per year by the American Medical Association. JAMA is the most widely
circulated medical journal in the world.
BioMed Central
BioMed central is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher
which has pioneered the open access publishing model.
All original research articles published by BioMed Central are made freely and
permanently accessible online immediately upon publication. BioMed Central
views open access to research as essential in order to ensure the rapid and
efficient communication of research findings. It publishes 208 peer-reviewed
open access journals.
A list of OA (free) journals published by Biomed Central can be found at
http://www.biomedcentral.com/browse/journals/
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Repository Model
Repositories range from those hosted by an institution to house the
intellectual property created by that institution or repositories that are subject
based such as biomedicine or physics. While some repositories perform peer
review functions, most serve simply as a repository for materials (published and
unpublished) such as manuscripts, theses, supplemental data, conference
proceedings, student posters, faculty notes, newsletters, to name a few
examples.
There is a tendency towards "federated" institutional repositories but this
idea still in embryo. There are visible outcomes such as cross-institutional
repository search, augmentation of geographic and systems diversity, and other
capabilities. In addition to this “federation” allows faculty to collaborate with other
scholars and easily move among institutions without boundaries.
OAIster was a project of the Digital Library Production Service and the
University of Michigan University Library. It has a search function that permits the
user to search all repositories at once. Though I don’t think couldn’t find a way to
limit search to just the bioscience or health fields. Its goal is to create a collection
of freely available, previously difficult-to-access, academically-oriented digital
resources that are easily searchable by anyone. OAIster harvests from Open
Archives Initiative (OAI)-compliant Digital Libraries, Institutional Repositories, and
Online Journals using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata
Harvesting (OAI-PMH) protocol.
In early 2009, OCLC formed a partnership with the University of Michigan
in order to provide continued access to open-archive collections through OAIster.
OAIster records are indexed in WorldCat.org, and is integrated in WorldCat.org
search results along with records from thousands of libraries worldwide. OAIster
has a very broad scope but does cover the medical field.
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To locate a repository use the Registry of Open Access Repositories
(http://.roar.eprints.org).
Institutional Repository
Digital Commons@Becker
o Digital Commons@Becker is a digital repository for hosting the scholarly
work created at Washington University School of Medicine and enhancing
its visibility and accessibility to scholars, researchers, and the public.
Administered and maintained by the Bernard Becker Medical Library, Digital
Commons@Becker provides groups, departments, centers, divisions, or
programs at the School of Medicine with a platform for creating customized
collections that reflect the wide range of their scholarly output. Collections
can include journal articles, meeting abstracts, capstones, research papers,
poster presentations, newsletters, videos, sound files, and more.
o The Digital Commons at the Texas Medical Center is another exemplary
repository (http://digitalcommon s.library.tmc.edu/about.html). The IR
includes useful resources on copyright and self-archiving to educate novice
in the field of Open Access and IR. “The collection brings together all of the
scholarly work from TMC faculty, researchers, and students into one central
location. It contains journal articles, conference presentations, dissertations
and theses, teaching materials, datasets, unpublished reports, and more.
The repository also contains newsletters, annual reports, statistics, and
other administrative documents from schools, departments, and programs.”
Subject-Based Repository
PubMed Central
o PubMed Central (PMC) is the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free
digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. PMC was
started in 2000 and contains over half a million articles, including
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supplemental data, most of which have a corresponding entry in PubMed.
Authors who publish manuscripts based on research funded by NIH are
strongly encouraged to deposit their work in PMC.
Blogs:
A blog is a regularly-updated site of entries arranged in chronological order.
Blogs have been central to the rise of web 2.0 and form the basis of a lot of
social activity and knowledge exchange on the current web. Blogs can be
thought of as virtual office spaces for health librarians and help to collect and
share stories, pictures and interesting ideas. Internationally, there is a growing
community of health librarian and medical blogs.
o Life in the Fast Lane. This Medical Blog was born out of passionate (and
usually unresolved) debate pertaining to the elements of eLearning; clinical
cases; ECG interpretation; medical education; toxicology; medical history
and information sharing strategies in the open source era.
(http://lifeinthefastlane.com/)
o Open Medicine blog post. The mission of Open Medicine is to facilitate the
equitable, global dissemination of high-quality health research; to promote
international dialogue and collaboration on health issues; to improve clinical
practice; and to expand and deepen the understanding of health and health
care. (http://blog.openmedicine.ca/)
Wikis:
Wiki-like sites are often used internally among scholars, they are useful for
project coordination and organization. It’s a place where scholars can hold
discussions, and share and manage information. Medical wikis will play an
important role in medical education (Dr. Meskó, B., 2007). “A wiki can serve as a
preservation mechanism since drafts of scientific papers and research processes
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are archived and can be retrieved with relative ease” (Harley, D., et al, 2010).
Some example are listed below:
o Wikisurgery is collaboratively building the most comprehensive and trusted
free surgical encyclopaedia. With over 32,000 articles for surgeons and
patients, including news, articles, operation scripts, biographies and images.
(http://www.wikisurgery.com/index.php?title=Main_Page)
o Radiopaedia: a wiki for radiology. Radiopaedia.org is a rapidly growing
open-edit radiology resource primarily complied by radiologists and
radiology residents / registrars / fellows from across the globe. Our mission
is to create the best radiology reference available, and to make it available
for free, forever, for all. (http://radiopaedia.org/)
o Ganfyd.org: Ganfyd is a collaborative medical reference by medical
professionals and invited non-medical experts.
(http://www.ganfyd.org/index.php?title=Main_Page)
o Medgadget Wiki: Medgadget’s wiki aiming to create a comprehensive
database of medical technologies and devices, including specifications,
methods of use, and commentary on efficacy and other issues.
http://www.medgadget.com/
Podcasts:
Podcasting audio and video files can be played on handheld devices and
personal computers via RSS and Atom. Podcasting is a powerful tool that can be
used for outreach and training as it can offers current awareness and learning
opportunities for end users at their fingertips. The use of audiovisual media
increases as society moves into web 3.0 and physicians try to keep current with
changes in evidence-based health care.
A short list of podcasts is listed below:
o Harvard Center - Cancer News in Context and Prevention Radio offers
Short commentaries on the latest news on cancer prevention and
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screening from the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention. Includes
Cancer News in Context and Prevention Radio.
(http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/)
o Johns Hopkins Radiology Teaching Podcast:
http://www.rad.jhmi.edu/residents/podcasts.htm
o Urology Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Podcasts:
http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podcasts/44073
Videocasts:
o The Center for Information Technology (CIT) makes special NIH events,
seminars, and lectures available to viewers on the NIH network and the Internet
from the VideoCast web site (http://videocast.nih.gov/).
o Webicina, founded by Dr. Bertalan Mesko, has a list of podcasts
(http://www.webicina.com/emergency-medicine/emergency-medicine-videos-
animations-and-videocasts/). In addition to videocasts the site futures podcasts,
twitters, Wikis, etc.
o Anesthesiology Clinics of North America:
(http://www.anesthesiology.theclinics.com/content/mp3)
Professional and Scholarly hubs:
Until recently most types of the new models deliver one type of content,
such as journal articles, but we are now assisting to resources that combine a
wide range of content types in a single site. These “hubs,” often the digital portal
for a scholarly society or professional membership organization, may offer e-only
journals, access to preprints and conference papers, grey literature, blogs or
newsletters, etc. These sites though combine content from the other formats
described in this paper, are valuable because they are portals, or “one-stop
shops” for information (Nancy L. Maron, L., Smith, K., 2008).
Few example of scholarly hubs are given below:
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o American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
(http://www.aahpm.org/)
o E-medicine (http://www.emedicine.com/)
o Future medicine (http://www.futuremedicine.com/)
Conference proceedings
A short list of conference is given below:
o Internal Medicine: A Clinical Update Sarasota Florida
o 4th International Conference on Health Informatics (HEALTHINF) Rome
Italy
o 3rd International Conference on Drug Discovery & Therapy Dubai United
Arab Emirates
o 29th Annual UC Davis Infectious Diseases Conference Sacramento CA
o Emergency Medicine 2011: 34th Annual UC Davis Winter Conference
Truckee, Lake Tahoe CA
For a more comprehensive list refer to the Medical and Medical Scientific
Conferences Worldwide website (http://www.conferencealerts.com/med.htm)
Special libraries
“A health or medical library is designed to assist physicians, health
professionals, students, patients, consumers and medical researchers in finding
health and scientific information to improve, update, assess or evaluate health
care. Medical libraries are typically found in hospitals, medical schools, private
industry and in medical or health associations. A typical health or medical library
has access to MEDLINE, a range of electronic resources, print and digital journal
collections and print reference books” (Medical Library. Wikipedia, 2010).
The number of medical special library is vast and a full list cannot be given
in this paper. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) is the largest
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biomedical library in the world, and collects and provides access to some of the
best health information in the world (due to its linkage to the National Institutes of
Health).
AA sample list of Special Libraries in Pittsburgh and vicinity is given below
(a brief description is given for the first one):
o The Allegheny General Hospital - Health Sciences Library is part of the
West Penn Allengheny Health system. Their mission is to improve the
health of the people in the Western Pennsylvania region. It aims to
educate and conduct research as an integrated team of physicians,
nurses and support professionals who are committed to improving the
health of our patients.
o Allegheny University - Forbes Health System Library
o Alleghenty Valley Hospital Medical Library
o CCAC - Boyce Campus Library
o CCAC - South Campus Library
o Cullen Health Sciences Library
o Marshall University - Health Science Libraries
o Pittsburgh Mercy Health System Libraries
o Pittsburgh Ohio Valley General Hospital Library
o University of Pittsburgh Medical Center - Falk Library of the Health
Sciences
o University of Pittsburgh Medical Center - Northwest Medical Library
o University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Shadyside - Hopewood Library
o University of Pittsburgh Medical Center - Western Psychiatric Institute &
Clinic Library
o Washington Hospital Health Sciences Library
o West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine Library
o West Virginia University - Health Sciences Library
o Westmoreland Regional Hospital - Library
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Arkansas
o University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Library
Louisiana
o LSU Health Science Center Library (New Orleans)
o LSU Health Science Center Library (Shreveport)
o Tulane University Medical Library
New Mexico
o UNM Health Sciences Library
Oklahoma
o OSU Center for Health Sciences Library
o OU Health Science Center Library (Oklahoma City)
o OU Health Science Center Library (Tulsa)
Texas
o Texas A&M University Medical Sciences Library
o Texas Tech Health Sciences Center Libraries
o UNT Health Sciences Center Library
o UT Health Science Center at San Antonio Library
o UT Health Science Center at Tyler Library
o UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas Library
A list of medical libraries in Massachusetts can be found at The Massachusetts
Board of Library Commissioner
(http://mblc.state.ma.us/wikis/c2c/index.php/Special_Libraries_-_Medical)
Scholarly societies
Society journals are among the best in the world. The commitment of
society members, their expertise in the scientific discipline, the access and
closeness to the scientific community, all work together to ensure the quality of
society journals. 20
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Publishing journals is a way to fulfill a society’s mission and to raise its profile,
but it can also be profitable, although rare are the societies that have a profit
orientation per se.
A good directory of scholarly societies can be found at the Scholarly
Societies Project website
(http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/society/subjects_soc.html#HEALTH)
A starting point to explore the wide range of scientific societies whose members
contribute to pharmaceutical research and development can be found at the
Network Science website
(http://www.netsci.org/Resources/Web/society_medical.html)
Below are listed some scientific societies. A brief description of aims,
contact information, size of membership, qualifications for membership is given.
o Association of American Physicians
The Association of American Physicians is a nonprofit, professional organization
founded in 1885 by seven physicians, including Dr. William Osler, for “the
advancement of scientific and practical medicine.” Now the Association is
composed of over 1300 active members and approximately 600 emeritus and
honorary members from the United States, Canada and other countries. The
Association of American Physicians is a nonprofit, professional organization
founded in 1885 by seven physicians, including Dr. William Osler, for “the
advancement of scientific and practical medicine.” Now the Association is
composed of over 1300 active members and approximately 600 emeritus and
honorary members from the United States, Canada and other countries. Lori
Ennis, Executive Director.
45685 Harmony Lane
Belleville, MI 48111
ph: 734-699-1217
email: [email protected]
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o Institute of Medicine The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is an independent,
nonprofit organization that works outside of government to provide unbiased and
authoritative advice to decision makers and the public. The IOM is renowned for
its research program, but it is also an honorific organization with more than 1,700
members and foreign associates who donate their time to put their knowledge
and expertise to work for the nation’s health. 500 5th Street, N.W.
NAS 328
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-334-2174
Fax: 202-334-1694
E-mail: [email protected]
o American Society for Clinical Investigation The ASCI is an honor society of
physician-scientists, those who translate findings in the laboratory to the
advancement of clinical practice. Founded in 1908, the Society is home to more
than 3,000 members who are in the upper ranks of academic medicine and
industrial healthcare. The ASCI represents active physician-scientists who are at
the bedside, at the research bench, and at the blackboard. Many of its senior
members are widely recognized leaders in academic medicine.
15 Research Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Phone: 734-222-6050
Fax: 734-222-6058
E-mail: [email protected]
o American Association for Cancer Research
The mission of the AACR is to prevent and cure cancer through research,
education, communication, and collaboration. Through its programs and
services, the AACR fosters research in cancer and related biomedical science;
accelerates the dissemination of new research findings among scientists and
others dedicated to the conquest of cancer; promotes science education and
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training; and advances the understanding of cancer etiology, prevention,
diagnosis, and treatment throughout the world.
615 Chestnut St. 17th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106 Philadelphia, PA 19106-
4404
Telephone: (215) 440-9300
Toll Free Telephone: 1-866-423-3965
Fax: (215) 440-9313
E-mail: [email protected]
o The American Public Health Association
The American Public Health Association is the oldest and most diverse
organization of public health professionals in the world and has been working to
improve public health since 1872. APHA and its state affiliates represent over
50,000 health professionals and others who work to promote health, prevent
disease and ensure conditions in which we all can be safe and healthy.
Mailing Address
2215 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20037-2985
e-mail: [email protected]
Main Phone Number
(202) 777-2742 (APHA)
Main FAX Number
(202) 777-2534
o American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC)
(http://www.aacc.org)
AACC is an international scientific/medical society of clinical laboratory
professionals, physicians, research scientists and other individuals involved with
clinical chemistry and other clinical laboratory science-related disciplines.
Founded in 1948, the society has 11,000 members and is headquartered in
Washington, DC.
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2101 L Street NW, Suite 202
Washington, DC USA 20037-1558
Tel: 800/892-1400 or 202/857-0717
Fax: 202/887-5093
o Society for Academy of Medical Sciences promotes advances in medical
science and campaigns to ensure these are translated into healthcare benefits
for society. The Academy responds to emerging and topical issues with printed
reports, position papers, expert statements and consultation submissions.
41 Portland Place
London
W1B 1QH
020 3176 2150
o The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) is dedicated to
the improvement of care of the acutely ill and injured patient by improving
research and education. To achieve this mission, SAEM influences health policy
through forums, publications, inter-organizational collaboration, policy
development, and consultation services for physicians, teachers, researchers,
and students. SAEM is the sponsor of the monthly, peer-reviewed journal,
Academic Emergency Medicine (AEM).
AEM publishes information relevant to the practice, educational advancements,
and investigation of emergency medicine. The mission of the journal is to
promote the advancement of emergency medicine research, education, and
clinical practice.
Society For Academic Emergency Medicine
2340 S. River Road, Suite 200
Des Plaines, IL 60018
Phone: 1-847-813-9823
Fax: 1-847-813-5450
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Databases
o AccessMedicine is an online collection of key medical reference texts that
provide authoritative and current medical data. Medical news, updates,
patient education information, a diagnostic tool, and an integrated drug
database with information about dosages, trade names, and pricing are also
part of this resource. Searching is available across the entire suite of basic
sciences and clinical texts. An A-Z index and QuickAccess search also
provide easy access to material.
o Health and Wellness Resource Center provides access to medical journal
and magazine articles, a medical encyclopedia, and dictionary. Directories of
medical organizations and drugs are provided along with a health assessment
tool. Many medical, health, and alternative medicine topics are covered.
o Global Health Provides abstracts and citations for 3500 international journals,
books, theses, and more. Subjects covered are human nutrition, public health
and veterinary public health, disease, and other health and medical topics.
o CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health) Plus with Full Text
1937 – present
o Cochrane Library
A collection of databases, published on CD-ROM and the Internet and
updated quarterly, containing the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews,
the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the Database of Abstracts
of Reviews of Effects, the Cochrane Methodology Register, the HTA
Database, NHSEED, and information about The Cochrane Collaboration.
Dates of coverage vary. (Wiley)
The Cochrane Collaboration, established in 1993, is an international network
of people helping healthcare providers, policy makers, patients, their
advocates and carers, make well-informed decisions about human health
care by preparing, updating and promoting the accessibility of Cochrane
Reviews – over 4,000 so far, published online in The Cochrane Library.
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o Health Reference Center (Academic)
Dates of coverage vary. (Gale Cengage Learning)
1950 - present. (EBSCO)
o MEDLINE (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/databases/databases_medline.html) is
the National Library of Medicine's premier bibliographic database covering the
fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care
system, and the preclinical sciences.
MEDLINE is the largest component of PubMed (http://pubmed.gov/), the
freely accessible online database of biomedical journal citations and abstracts
created by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM®). Approximately
5,400 journals published in the United States and more than 80 other
countries have been selected and are currently indexed for MEDLINE. A
distinctive feature of MEDLINE is that the records are indexed with NLM's
controlled vocabulary, the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH®).
Directories and guides
o Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ) is one example of a quality
directory of OA journals that disseminates scholarly results. The Directory
increases visibility of researchers works and its use by others. The DOAJ is one
example of answering to the BOAI (Budapest Open Access Initiative) “to
accelerate progress in the international effort to make research articles in all
academic fields freely available on the Internet” (BOAI, 2001). The criticized loss
of quality of OA journals versus the subscription based peer-reviewed journals
fails to be true. All the journals included in DOAJ are peer-reviewed and have
editorial quality control. The primary audiences of DOAJ are researchers
themselves that publish their work and use other researchers work. SPARC
Europe and DOAJ are also establishing the introduction of a certification for
which the journals can obtain a “Seal” by choosing the CC-BY license (Creative
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Commons license). DOAJ is OAI compliant which makes the articles harvestable.
The journal articles in DOAJ are full text and there is no embargo period.
o The Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR) promotes the
development of Open Access. It provides timely information about the growth
and status of repositories throughout the world. The main discovery searches are
by country, and repository type.
Library role
There are several ways that university librarians can play a central role in
sharing information about these digital resources with the campus community,
and in guiding new projects toward success. “More understanding is needed
about how scholars create knowledge and how libraries can participate in the
process” (ACRL Scholarly Communications Committee, 2007).
Cornwell University Library believes that libraries can take on publishing
tasks and develop its own content management system. Libraries are developing
their repositories as they have the major players available right there: the
academics who can edit and review the works of the researchers.
Information literacy is critical to student success. It is important to ensure
that information literacy becomes part of students' courses of study. Students on
all levels from high school through the university need to be taught how to be
information literate. It has become necessary for librarians and teachers to
redouble their efforts (Sugarman & Thaxton, 2008). The traditional one-session
bibliographic instruction, even though still conducted, no longer meets the needs
of providing information literacy to students (Li, 2007). More extensive
collaboration between librarians and faculty is needed throughout the graduation
period. This combination will arm the graduate student with the ability “to find,
evaluate, analyze, communicate and use information to solve problems, create
new ideas, make informed decisions, and turn data into meaning” (Sugarman &
Thaxton, 2008).
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Conclusion
Although is true that “Scholars emphasizing the importance of face-to-face
contact for fostering dynamic and creative exchanges among collaborators. The
sentiment that a handshake and eye contact provide the foundation of productive
collaborations was near unanimous” (Harley, D. et al., 2010) technology doesn’t
want to replace those elements, but rather function as an added value to the
existing way of practicing research. Further research would be needed to better
understand the factors motivating or discouraging faculty to participate in
different forms of digital communication.
Some funding agencies are moving to provide support for authors by paying this
fee. NIH, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Wellcome Trust are
examples of funding organizations for biomedical research that provide article
processing funds for authors as part of the grant award. For more information on
funding agencies and their policies on open access and funding of article
processing fees please view the BioMed Central Summary of Funding Agency
Policies on Open Access
(http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/authors/funderpolicies/).
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Table 1
Journals article-processing charge
Journal nameAPC GBP
APC EUR
APC USD
Genome Biology £1525 €1805 US$2390
Genome Medicine £1525 €1805 US$2390
Respiratory Research £1395 €1650 US$2185
Fibrogenesis & Tissue Repair £1375 €1630 US$2155
Annals of General Psychiatry £1355 €1605 US$2120
Epigenetics & Chromatin £1355 €1605 US$2120
Molecular Autism £1355 €1605 US$2120
BMC Biology £1335 €1580 US$2090
BMC Medicine £1335 €1580 US$2090
BMC subject journals £1125 €1330 US$1760
Molecular Neurodegeneration £1270 €1505 US$1990
Molecular Pain £1270 €1505 US$1990
Nutrition Journal £1260 €1490 US$1975
Biotechnology for Biofuels £1255 €1485 US$1965
EvoDevo £1255 €1485 US$1965
Flavour £1255 €1485 US$1965
Investigative Genetics £1255 €1485 US$1965
Mobile DNA £1255 €1485 US$1965
Neural Systems & Circuits £1255 €1485 US$1965
Skeletal Muscle £1255 €1485 US$1965
Biology of Sex Differences £1250 €1480 US$1955
Implementation Science £1210 €1430 US$1895
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Neural Development £1205 €1425 US$1885
Silence £1180 €1395 US$1850
Annals of Surgical Innovation and Research £1160 €1375 US$1815
BioMedical Engineering OnLine £1160 €1375 US$1815
Head & Face Medicine £1160 €1375 US$1815
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes £1160 €1375 US$1815
Journal of Clinical Bioinformatics £1160 €1375 US$1815
Journal of Nanobiotechnology £1160 €1375 US$1815
Journal of Translational Medicine £1160 €1375 US$1815
Molecular Cancer £1160 €1375 US$1815
World Journal of Surgical Oncology £1160 €1375 US$1815
Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica £1145 €1355 US$1795
Gut Pathogens £1145 €1355 US$1795
Alzheimer's Research & Therapy £1125 €1330 US$1760
Arthritis Research & Therapy £1125 €1330 US$1760
Breast Cancer Research £1125 €1330 US$1760
Critical Care £1125 €1330 US$1760
Stem Cell Research & Therapy £1125 €1330 US$1760
Cardiovascular Diabetology £1120 €1325 US$1755
Cell Division £1095 €1295 US$1715
Frontiers in Zoology £1095 €1295 US$1715
Cell Communication and Signaling £1070 €1265 US$1675
Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery £1045 €1235 US$1635
Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research
£1045 €1235 US$1635
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Malaria Journal £1045 €1235 US$1635
Nutrition & Metabolism £1045 €1235 US$1635
Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology £1045 €1235 US$1635
Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling £1045 €1235 US$1635
Behavioral and Brain Functions £1020 €1210 US$1595
Geochemical Transactions £1000 €1185 US$1565
Plant Methods £900 €1065 US$1410
Genetics Selection Evolution £850 €1005 US$1330
BioPsychoSocial Medicine £825 €975 US$1290
Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance
£825 €975 US$1290
Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases £825 €975 US$1290
Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy
£825 €975 US$1290
Cell & Bioscience £675 €800 US$1055
BMC Research Notes £595 €705 US$930
Journal of Medical Case Reports £550 €650 US$860
Chemistry Central Journal‡ £475 €560 US$745
Journal of Cheminformatics‡ £475 €560 US$745
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