All journals from the BMJ Publishing Group should be free online
BMJ 2000; 320 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.320.7228.188 (Published 15 January 2000) Cite this as: BMJ 2000;320:188All rapid responses
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I have read Dr.Dobbin's letter and the responses to it in a recent
Jan 2000 issue of the BMJ suggesting that the online journals be made
available to all free.
I am a physician from India here in the US for 3 or
so years for training and anticipate returning to India for general
practice.It will be a great boon for physicians in developing nations to
have access to information from these journals for free. In this
ruthlessly commercial era of modern medicine, the BMA must set an example
by doing this as a humanitarian gesture, as the cost of the subscriptions
is prohibitive for us in the developing nations.When I was a medical
student 10 years ago the British Government used to fund essential medical
books via the ELBS Low priced editions for Southeast Asia. Something akin
to that must be done in this matter. Our only hope is that the British do
something like this-having known the American system I have serious doubts
if the intensely commercial US medical journals will even understand what
we Third world physicians are talking about. It is the responsibility of
the more 'priveliged'nations not to disregard the interests of the needy
millions in 'not-so-privileged'areas of the world.
Amandeep S. Gill
Competing interests: No competing interests
Dr Dobbin states "Everyone knows that it is extremely tiring and
difficult to read a magazine online." Well, were I sitting at home
composing this reply on my ageing laptop with primitive dial-up access I
would be in complete agreement. However, I am seated in front of a high-
resolution monitor connecting to my employer's ISP at 2Mb/s via a well-
specified PC. Under these fortunate conditions the 'readability' of the
eBMJ considerably exceeds that of its hard-copy counterpart: electronic
pages can be turned more quickly, reading speeds are comparable to those
of hard-copy and there are no advertisements to get in the way! I cannot
lose the eBMJ and it takes up no shelf space. In fact the only drawback I
can conceive of is not being able to read the eBMJ in the bath!
My point is not to brag about my own facilities, nor to sing the
praises of the eBMJ, rather to assert that there is no intrinsic ergonomic
reason why the printed page is destined to remain for ever superior to
that of the electronic page.
Competing interests: No competing interests
I'm sorry that I didn't make clear in my response to Dr Dobbin that
we do plan to make access to journals from the BMJ Publishing Group free
to those in the developing world. We are currently working out the details
and will be making an announcement soon.
Those who appreciate journals should recognise, however, that there
is as yet no established economic model for journals in the new world. My
prediction is that most will disappear in the next 10 years. Indeed, those
whose primary function is to publish research (the majority at the moment)
will have no purpose in a world where primary research is "published" on
Pubmed Central or an equivalent.
But I think a world with journals that are designed to meet the needs
of readers not authors and fewer journals will be a better world.
Richard Smith
Editor, BMJ
Competing interests: No competing interests
I could'nt agree more with Dr Dobbin. I would like to see more
journals free on-line. There are many doctors especially from under-
developed/developing countries who find subscriptions to journals
extremely prohibitive. For doctors like me and I'm sure for many others
too, keeping up with medical progress has become a necessity but
unfortunately very taxing on my pocket! The Editor's reply is very
worrying. Is the demise of free journals on-line coming soon? If there is
indeed going to a fee imposed for dowloading articles, I hope the people
in BMJ will consider sympathetically the financial problems faced by many
doctors from under-developed/developing countries.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Free online specialist journals
To Editor,
The availability of e-bmj on line has revolutionised professional
life for me as it was impossible to access the latest information in the
past but it is now only a click away.
I think it is the most wonderful thing happened to the third world
physicians at the end of the last millennium.
The same should happen with respect to specialist journals like
Thorax Gut and Heart Journal to enable us to keep in touch! Hitherto I was
reading the BMJ of May or June in December. The longterm consequences of
free professional journals will bring only good results and satisfaction
for both the publishers and the readers, at least I believe so. Money
should not stand in the way of dissemination of information to those who
seek it.
I hope for better reading for all the third world net savy physicians
by getting access.
Dr.C.Madhu.M.D.
Competing interests: No competing interests