Rapid Responses to:

EDITOR'S CHOICE: Fiona Godlee Swept along by the tide BMJ 2006; 332: 0-f [Full text]

Rapid Responses: Submit a response to this article

Rapid Responses published:

Further restriction of free BMJ online access

Brian Power   (13 January 2006)

Decline of influence

Mary Grace Kovar   (18 January 2006)

Re: Decline of influence

Balaji Ravichandran   (19 January 2006)

Further restriction of free BMJ online access 13 January 2006
Brian Power, Pharmacist Wirral CH49 5PE Send response to journal: Re: Further restriction of free BMJ online access	F. Godlee wrote "One unwelcome change for some readers has been the closure of access to the BMJ's non-research articles, which up until now were free for the first week of publication. The change was necessary to maintain subscription revenues." This is indeed a very unwelcome and disappointing change. I was saddened last year when the BMJ online free access to all content was limited to one week only (and then becoming freely available after 1 year). The move to now restrict all non-research articles to subscription only for the first year may help with subscription revenues but removes from the general public an excellent source of up to date health information. While I accept that the BMJ has to wrestle with the dilemma of simultaneously maximising access and revenue, depriving the public of this resource is likely to be counter-productive and drive people to search for their online health information from other less credible sites. I think the BMJ needs to urgently review this change and reinstate at least one weeks free access to all online content without delay. Competing interests: None declared
Decline of influence 18 January 2006
Mary Grace Kovar, Retired NORC 20036 Send response to journal: Re: Decline of influence	The editor wants to have more influence on health care while decreasing access to the journal. It won't work. I'm retired and so had time to read the BMJ every Monday and share articles with friends and colleagues. Therefore, the BMJ influence went far beyond the subscriptions. Now that the articles are no longer free I can't do that - so you lose influence. I notice that you post your online subscription in pounds and Euros. North Americans use neither. Competing interests: None declared
Re: Decline of influence 19 January 2006
Balaji Ravichandran, Medical Student; Advisor, sBMJ Madras Medical College, Chennai, India Send response to journal: Re: Re: Decline of influence	I do agree that the restriction of online access - at least to developing countries - is highly unwelcome. What Dr. Godlee does not realise is that students like me, who thrive on scholarships through medical school, cannot afford to pay even that 20 pounds, despite seeing enough value in the BMJ to subscribe for online-access. Competing interests: None declared