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EDITORIALS: Matt De Bono Electronic books BMJ 2002; 325: 850 [Full text]

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Can ebooks help to cross the digital divide?

Faina Y Linkov, Ronald E. LaPorte, and Akira Sekikawa   (20 October 2002)

'The One True Gospel"

Seth L. Haber, MD, FCAP   (20 October 2002)

Can ebooks help to cross the digital divide? 20 October 2002
Faina Y Linkov, Graduate Student Researcher Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA 15213, Ronald E. LaPorte, and Akira Sekikawa Send response to journal: Re: Can ebooks help to cross the digital divide?	The new E-books project by BMJ Bookshop aims to improve access to medical information for doctors and other health care professionals by making medical books available in electronic format from its website. The cost of ebooks is cheaper and downloading PDF files is not a problem for somebody in the Western World, however access to this valuable information would still be difficult for somebody from the developing world due to high costs of electronic books and low bandwidth Internet connectivity (leading to downloading problems). We would like to argue that in order to improve access to current medical literature in the developing world, projects like the one described by Matt De Bono need to be complemented by other initiatives that provide health and research information free of charge. Lack of access to the current literature impedes science and medicine, especially in the developing world. There is an information divide between developing and developed countries, often referred to as a digital divide. Digital dissertations, currently available through the Internet libraries of major post secondary institutions, in conjunction with new BMJ e-book project might help to close the chasm and deliver the information to scientists across the world. UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations Database represents the work of authors from over 1000 graduate schools and universities. 47000 new dissertations and 12000 new theses are added each year. Full texts of dissertations are available from 2000 onward. Dissertations give thorough overviews of recent literature and they provide an opportunity for the reader to be up-to-date on the current research developments. If one has only limited access to the original literature, then the excellent literature reviews in dissertations may be of considerable value. Despite the fact that not everybody has a direct access to this database, abstracts and 24 page previews of dissertations from 2000 onward are available free of charge to anybody who is connected to the Internet (http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/). Findings typically appear in the dissertation database before they are published in a journal. Moreover, a large percentage of dissertations are never published, this approach makes their reviews and data accessible. BMJ ebooks, in conjunction with other projects that provide high quality health information on the Internet, have a great potential to resolve information deficiencies in the developing countries and provide much needed research information to the scientists across the world. Further collaborative work between all of these efforts is needed for eliminating the digital divide.
'The One True Gospel" 20 October 2002
Seth L. Haber, MD, FCAP, Clinical Professor Kaiser Permanente Medical Center Send response to journal: Re: 'The One True Gospel"	I agree that e-publishing can be mutually beneficial, but to make it into a truly win-win situation, the cost of non-publishing has to be reflected in the cost of downloading. The publisher saves the printing costs (up to about $25 per volume), inventory, shipping, and "remaindering" inventory at the publication of a revislion or update. Those who want a bound volume, not just a downloaded one, can be accommodated by "Publishing on Demand" at a most reasonable price-per-volume. The courage of my convictions is such that my own book, "Innovations in Pathology: the Best of Thirty Years," is published on the College of American Pathologists website, to be downloaded by members free of charge, with the bound POD volume available for $20. Some 4,000 CAP members downloaded it in the first few months. Unfortunately, this response format does not include the option to "Attach" anything, or I'd send you a copy. If you access it and like it, you might want to discuss it with Caryn Tursky, at the CAP, about including it on your list of ebooks.