Rapid Responses to:
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Rapid Responses: Rapid Responses published:
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![[Read Rapid Response]](/icons/misc/sectionDOWN.gif)
BMJ should cater to PDA users
- Andrew Morris (22 July 2000)
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BMJ will be available for portable electronic devices
- Richard Smith (22 July 2000)
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A resource?
- Matt Oliver (22 July 2000)
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BMJ Publishing Group web products should be free to those in the developing world
- Richard Smith (23 July 2000)
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Keep the bmj.com going
- N Chandrasekharan (23 July 2000)
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Re:BMJ Publishing Group web products should be free to those in the developing world
- Jayantha Ilangaratne (24 July 2000)
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Free access for the developing world
- Alex Williamson (24 July 2000)
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Restricted readership of electronic responses
- David John Evans (24 July 2000)
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Interes _is_ Fragmented, electronic fora support this
- Adrian Midgley (18 November 2001)
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Andrew Morris, Clinical Assistant Mt. Sinai Hospital
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I agree that the BMJ, in its entirety, is not suitable for "web reading". However, an increasing number of medical readers are using portable electronic devices in their practise; this has extended to using such devices for reading the medical literature. Some journals have begun customizing their abstracts for such reading. The BMJ, once again, could take the lead in electronic publishing by facilitating transfer to portable electronic formats. |
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Richard Smith, Editor BMJ
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The BMJ will be available for portable electronic devices soon. Evidently, about a quarter of physicians in the United States use portable electronic devices, and that proportion is rising very fast. The BMJ should, we hope, become available in two ways for these devices--a "plain vanilla version" and a version that although equally easy to use will incorporate some clever new ideas. Richard Smith Editor, BMJ |
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Matt Oliver, Consultant Surgeon, Mater Dei Hospital Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
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You state that the BMJ Publishing Groups journals offer a vast resource of information, but this only applies if you subscribe to the relevant journals. I live in a country which does not have access to and cannot afford the subscriptions to these journals and am therefore deprived of this vast resource. As a general surgeon I need to browse journals in several specialties, both surgical and medical. Why can you not allow free access to all your journals to people from outside Britain, particularly as your research shows that the majority of those who read the journals on the Web are from other countries and will not subscribe to the paper journals? |
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Richard Smith, Editor, BMJ, and Chief Executive, BMJ Publishing Group BMJ
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The BMJ Publishing Group does hope to make the web material for which we currently charge (most of it apart from the BMJ) available for free to those in developing countries. We cannot make it free to everybody outside Britain because most existing customers are outside Britain. Our specialist journals, books, and other products have very different sources of income from the BMJ. Richard Smith Editor, BMJ, and Chief Executive, BMJ Publishing Group |
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N Chandrasekharan, Nutrition Consultant Malaysian Palm Oil Board
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Dear Sir, As one of those who access the bmj.com regularly, I find the responses useful and stimulating (more interesting to read than the printed version, because of their rapidity and relevance and the opportunity to participate). The printed version are for leisurely reading and leisure is becoming a scare commoditity in the fast moving world. Please make the best of the elctronic media and my congratulations on all your endeavours. In fact the bmj.com is one of the valued sites I access regularly. With best wishes Dr. N. Chandrasekharan, MD., PhD., FRCPath. |
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Jayantha Ilangaratne, Doctor
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As previously disclosed by the Editor,BMJ Publishing Group gave £3 million the BMA last year.Perhaps,the Editor should minimise their most generous and increasing annual contribution to the BMA's coffers.Any savings made as a result,should go towards increasing free access to readers in the developing world.It is most unlikely that the BMA will suffer to any considerable extent,should the BMJ improves their generosity to the under-resourced, as suggested.Perhaps,such a step might also improve the BMA's failing status among the medical profession.Conducting a straw poll among the BMJ readership might be a sound way of seeking a wider opinion about my proposal. Competing Interest:seeking greater openess & transparency within the BMA. |
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Alex Williamson, Publishing Director, BMJ Specialist journals BMJ Publishing group
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It is our policy to offer developing countries (as defined by the World Bank)free access to all the BMJ specialist journal web sites. This gives instant access to up to date information. We are also willing to provide print subscriptions free of charge but we realise that postal difficulties often mean that the journals never arrive at all or at best are very delayed. Any subscriptions we provide under this policy are awarded for one year in the first instance and then renewed on request. |
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David John Evans, Emeritus professor of Histopathology Hammersmith Hospital
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The problem with the electronic journal is the fragmentation of interest. It is quite likely that only a handful of readers will see an electronic communication, whereas many thousands may see a letter as a result of browsing through a paper journal and have their interest in a topic aroused. The forums run by many national newspapers for example may attract only 3 or 4 letters on topics such as whether the NHS,like the BBC should be run as an independent corporation. I think it will be some years before electronic publishing acquires the same status as the paper journal if it ever does. |
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Adrian Midgley, GP; Medical Director PVS Europe Exeter; various internetworks
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Interest is fragmented. What I am interested in I will explore to great depth - the National electronic Library for Health's second and third layers and all the way back to the individuals concerned. What I am less interested in I will ignore or at best skim over. The paper version of the BMJ presents me with a selection of things most of which I have little interest in, BUT, I trust the editors to present me with a selection none of which it would be pointless for me to take note of. The electronic version has a different contract with the user and a different usefulness. If the rapid responses were printed then the journal would head for New York Times size, and the proportion read would head for the floor. Rapid responses are for drilling down, and the editors' job with them is to pick out the occasional one so crisp and useful that it merits _pushing_ to people who have not demonstrated a specific interest by coming looking for it. A major feature of the electronic form is searchability. Since the BMJ blocks Google and other Internet search engines it occupies a deep pocket in the noosphere. However the site is properly designed and it is easy to extract the search dialogue and add it to one's own MultiSearch script. |
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