Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Letters

Access controls on bmj.com: Restore true open access to bmj.com

BMJ 2005; 330 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.330.7496.904 (Published 14 April 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;330:904

Rapid Response:

Re: Restricting access to eBMJ: Where's the Evidence?

Sir,

I am an Italian GP, I used to consult the BMJ regularly and I found it very useful. I was compelled to give up this habit for a long time because of some big troubles occurred in my family. When I began to do it again it was a bad surprise for me to see a limitation in the access. I'd like to know what sort of information one can get free in order to carry on one's daily training, as many important journals have stopped more or less their access. As I live in a little village far from any medical library it is too expensive for me to pay in order to get a reasonable number of journals. Nevertheless I need to read at least a few articles, which is absolutely necessary for my personal training. That is why online free access was and always is an important resource. Moreover I think that it is a substantial question to debate whether in the future the only way to get sound information for daily activity is to pay for it. What sort of information physicians like me are going to get, if in the future the only free pieces of information we'll be able to get will come from Pharmaceutical Industries?

Claudio Blengini MD Italy

Competing interests: None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

02 May 2005
Claudio Blengini
general practitioner
12063 Dogliani (Cuneo) ITALY