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Research

Effect of using reporting guidelines during peer review on quality of final manuscripts submitted to a biomedical journal: masked randomised trial

BMJ 2011; 343 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d6783 (Published 22 November 2011) Cite this as: BMJ 2011;343:d6783

Rapid Response:

Re: Effect of using reporting guidelines during peer review on quality of final manuscripts submitted to a biomedical journal: masked randomised trial

Dear Sir,

Peter Gill’s suggestion of passing on subscriptions is laudable but also highlights a problem regarding access to publications. Doctors in most high income countries have access provided by organisations or governments. Increasingly, doctors in low-income countries have access provided by ingenious schemes such as HINARI or Evidence Aid. It is the doctors who are from middle-income countries such as Malaysia, who are frequently caught in the middle – the country is considered too rich for aid but the majority of doctors are unable to afford the high cost of subscription.

Until our local strategies to provide access to publications improve, many of us may have to rely on friends like Peter.

Competing interests: No competing interests

23 November 2011
Su May Liew
Senior Lecturer
University of Malaya
Lembah Pantai, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia