Free access to MEDLINE .... (3)
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The real issues in my mind are:
[...]
2) How do we address the bigger problem of getting the full text journal
rather than just the abstracts and references to our African
colleagues?
The idea behind PubMed is to deliver full text articles in collaboration
with publishers of Medical Journals. The abstract should have a link to the
publisher's WEB page from where the full text article can be downloaded
(either as plain text or in .pdf format - with complete figures and
tables). Until now only few publishers have placed full text articles on
the WEB but that might hopefully change in the future.
In an earlier message (16 May 1997) I have described how to use
the PubMed system for users with an e-mail account only. To retrieve that
message from the AFRO-NETS archives send an e-mail message to:
majordomo@usa.healthnet.org
leave the 'Subject' line empty, in the body of the message type:
get afro-nets 970516053620
end
At this moment I would be interested to know more about the situation
regarding BITNIS (Batch Internet National Library of Medicine Information
System).
BITNIS is a collaboration between SatelLife, the Pan American Health
Organisation and the National Library of Medicine to allow health workers
with e-mail connection only to do automated searches of 21 abstract
databases at the National Library of Medicine (NLM). Searches are prepared
on 'GratefulMed', a software developed by the NLM. The search strategy is
saved, then sent via an e-mail network to the BITNIS gateway at the NLM.
The actual search is done by a computer and the results returned to the
user. Abstracts and bibliographic references are available in the
databases; full text articles cannot be obtained.
In the past you needed an account and password and an average search cost
between US $1.00 - $3.00, but most times it was considerably less than
that. How is the situation now since access to Medline is free?
Regards,
Dieter Neuvians
Health Systems Research - Southern Africa
P.O.Box 2406
Harare / Zimbabwe
Tel. +263-4-733696
Fax: +263-4-733695
mailto:neuvians@harare.iafrica.com
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