Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Editorials

Paying for bmj.com

BMJ 2003; 327 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.327.7409.241 (Published 31 July 2003) Cite this as: BMJ 2003;327:241

Rapid Response:

Sad News For Knowledge Exchange

A giant wave of sadness leapt through my mind the moment I read the
news that BMJ is going to lock the access with charge, the journal that in
my 6 years of study has worked as the lighthouse of correct medical
Knowledge, every week the acess for the website brought good reflection and
material for a better medical practice.

In the last 6 months, I have seen BMJ rising as the most important
general medical journal, bringing to the front debates that have
been always in the backstage of the medical world. The edition about the
pharmaceutical industry was a Bright moment.

But then came the edition about the magic pill, and from that
moment I thought that something was happening, like an internal reaction
about the political leadership that the Journal was acquiring about the
medical problems and the right for free (in the sense of freedom) Knowledge
circulation.

And now it is the end. There will be no BMJ Free (LIVRE LIBRE), and
thinking about ways of funding the publication of scientific knowledge maybe
I prefer to think about an international fund with OMS and ONU to work in
terms of digitizing the medical knowledge and keep it free for the world,
as must be said that free access for knowledge is one of the most important
things for human developement.

Now what is the diference between BMJ and NJM?

Maybe the sad news for today may came soon with
the understatement that we must work hard in the creation of the
international fund for the freedom of knowledge

Rafael Mello Galliez

Competing interests:  
Works for human Development

Competing interests: No competing interests

03 August 2003
Rafael M Galliez
P
Cipriano Barata
Rua vinicius de morais 281/101 rio de janeiro RJ 22071-030 Brazil