BMJ  2005;330:904 (16 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7496.904-b

Letter

Access controls on bmj.com

List of countries with free access seems incomplete

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—As a BMA member based in Scotland, I am not directly affected by the recent changes in access to bmj.com.¹ However, while expressing gratitude at the number of countries to which the BMJ has granted free access (including those benefiting from the charitable gesture in the wake of the tsunami), I note that the list is taken directly from the World Health Organization's Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI, www.healthinternetwork.org) project for free library resources in poor countries.

If the BMA really wished to make a difference in poor countries it needs to know which countries really are poorest—gross national product per head and gross national income per head are reasonable methods of estimating this. Would it not, therefore, make most sense to look to the data held by international or economic institutions, rather than that held by health organisations?

The World Bank might suffice as . . . [Full text of this article]

University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QT aijazm@hotmail.co.uk

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