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ISSUE NO 53 USEFUL WEBSITES AND DISCUSSION LISTS

ONE PERSON’S CHOICE: BARBARA KIRSOP, ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING TRUST

Barbara Kirsop of the Electronic Publishing Trust provides an overview of science research sites that are available at little or no cost:

As a bioscientist by profession, my interest is in the international distribution of scientific research literature. Traditionally carried out by printed journals, the trend over the last few years has been to use the electronic medium to supplement or replace printing. Now, very many journals are online and many documents are available as single documents. My career change from the laboratory to the publishing environment also led me to work with scientists in the developing world and, within this context, I am now concerned both with 1) access by developing country scientists to the world’s research literature and 2) the electronic incorporation of research generated in developing countries into the international knowledge base. My choice of sites, listed below, reflects efforts to free the world’s research literature for the benefit of all and to ensure that research from the developing world is included in these initiatives. Attaining this objective would have a profound beneficial impact on the development of science.

Regarding access, it is unfortunate that e-publishing has not necessarily meant more equitable access, since publishers have mostly only made access to the electronic version of their journals free only to existing print subscribers. Since prices of journals continue to rise, there are fewer and fewer subscribers from the developing world - and access remains restricted by ability to pay. But happily, this fact is increasingly considered to be unacceptable and a number of new initiatives to provide research literature free on the Internet are appearing. Further, there are exciting developments that allow institutional archiving of refereed research papers that are then free to all. Software is being developed that allows such archives to be interoperable (Open Archives Initiative). This is the dream situation that most academic scientists with equitable access to global research at heart would wish to see come true. In the electronic age, the means exist. This change of approach, and raising awareness of the new initiatives, should close the N to S knowledge gap. There seems to be a gradual transition underway, leading from printed journal (by subscription)->printed journal + online version (still by subscription)->online-only (often free of charge)->institutional archiving on linked archive sites (free of charge). There are many models along the way, all aiming to improve access to essential information.

But the other problem is that research generated in the developing world - that is essential to ensuring the global knowledge base is complete - is all but invisible due to economic constraints facing developing country publishers. To close the resultant S to N knowledge gap, publishers in the developing world need to be made aware of the benefits of e-publishing, be trained in e-publishing technologies and be assisted in locating appropriate distribution mechanisms. Gradually, programmes addressing this problem are being funded.

As these processes continue, it seems likely that the exchange of publicly funded research information will eventually become ‘free to all’ in the same way that the sequence, protein, carbohydrate, microorganisms databases are already free to all and in the e-public domain. The means exist and what is needed now is support for electronic infrastructure in the developing world, together with the international and local organisation of information flow (via information waystations, academic telecentres [libraries/ institutes/universities etc], local networks, staging posts) until such time when wider electronic access becomes available.

It will be noted that only one of the sites listed below is in a developing country (the software for Bioline International was developed in Brazil and the system is hosted there), indicating that much awareness-raising and support is required to develop local web sites for journals. It is hoped that the work of the facilitating organisations listed below will can help to bring about these changes.

SITES OFFERING ACCESS TO REFEREED BIOSCIENCE ACADEMIC RESEARCH JOURNALS/DOCUMENTS (either free or low-cost)

- Bioline International - full text bioscience journals mostly from developing countries; free abstracts, full text on subscription; other free material including online-only journals; discussion fora, links to a number of free refereed journals. E-pub technology training; non- profit: bioline.bdt.org.br

- BioMed Central - full text medical research papers (not journals) + support for authors in archiving; new journals encouraged; all papers free and also archived with PubMed Central (below): www.biomedcentral.com

- British Medical Journal - free full text medical research papers: www.bmj.com

- PubMed Central - full text life-sciences journals (with links to required documents hosted by collaborating publishers rather than on PMC server); documents either free or on subscription: www.ncbr.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed

- Scientific Electronic Library Online (SCIelo) - distributes scientific journals published in Brazil, Chile and neighbouring Latin American countries; free abstracts, full text on subscription: www.scielo.br

- The Lancet - Electronic free archive for medical research authors in the developing world - copyright owned by authors: www.thelancet.com.era

FACILITATING SITES/ORGANISATIONS FOR PROMOTING DISTRIBUTION OF RESEARCH

- Electronic Publishing Trust for Development (EPT) - assists publishers from developing countries convert printed text to electronic; facilitates distribution (links to Bioline and a number of other online journals, many of which are free; organises workshops on e-technology; developing e-publishing online free manual: dspace.dial.pipex.com/bioline/

- International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications - supports online distribution of abstracts from journals published in developing countries (African Journals Online project); organises workshops on academic writing, publishing etc: www.inasp.org

- Open Archive Initiative site (develops software that allows interoperable searching across a growing number of institutional archive sites): www.openarchives.org

- Public Library of Science initiative - invitation to agree to using journals that make material available free, either always or 6 months after publication - gaining support from the academic community: www.publiclibraryofscience.org

Post script: My personal site of choice is that of ICSU’s World Federation for Culture Collections. The site gives links to the world’s microbial resources, where they can be found, how to get them.... The WFCC Committees address a number of issues relating to the use of microorganisms (preservation, taxonomy, safety, patents....) and the reports of their activities is available from the site. There are many links to related sites and it’s a good jump-off place for microbiologists.

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