Website and listserver references for work in nutrition
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Summer 2004
Nutrition Society Information Sheet 4
EMAIL LIST SERVES AND FORUMS AND ON-LINE JOURNAL ACCESS FOR NU-
TRITIONISTS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
The Nutrition Society
10 Cambridge Court, 210 Shepherds Bush Road, London W6 7NJ, UK
Fax: +44-020-7602-1756
http://www.nutritionsociety.org/careers/studentsinfo
This Information Sheet is particularly for nutrition workers in
developing countries although we hope it will be useful to nu-
tritionists everywhere. The Sheet lists email list serves and
forums, e-advisory services and sites giving free or low-cost
access to online journals. This edition of the Sheet does not
list the many other sites providing access to other types of
publications and documents although we may include them in fu-
ture. Links to some of these are on the Nutrition Society web-
site (http://www.nutritionsociety.org) and on other Nutrition
Society Information Sheets (#1,2, and 3). There are also links
on the website of the UN's Standing Committee on Nutrition
(http://www.unsystem.org/scn).
Please note that the Society accepts no responsibility for any
information on this Sheet that is incorrect or out of date. In-
clusion of an item does not indicate that the Nutrition Society
recommends it.
Please send corrections and additions for updating this Sheet to
mailto:s.smart@nutsoc.org.uk or mailto:annburgess@sol.co.uk
Contents
1. Items sent as regular or occasional emails:
1.1 Email list serves and forums
1.2 Email announcements of publications, meetings, etc.
2. Web-based forums
3. Advisory services
4. Websites giving access to online journals
1. Items sent as regular or occasional emails
1.1 Email list serves and forums
The ones listed here usually send out about 5-10 text-only e-
mails each week without attachments.
'HIF-net at WHO' (Health Information Forum-net at World Health
Organization)
HIF-net at WHO is a free email discussion list provided as part
of an integrated package of communication tools for the 'inter-
national health information community'. It is dedicated to is-
sues of health information access in resource-poor settings and
aims to promote multidisciplinary communication among providers
and users of health information. There are presently around 1500
participants including health professionals, librarians and pub-
lishers. HIF-net at WHO is a good place to announce new materi-
als to professionals outside the nutrition community and to dis-
cuss issues related to the sharing of nutrition information.
HIF-net at WHO does not send attachments.
To join the list, send an email to mailto:health@inasp.info with
your name, organisation, country, and brief description of pro-
fessional interests.
HIF-net at WHO is organised by the International Network for the
Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP). INASP-Health
also runs the Health Information Forum, a series of meetings
held in the UK for everyone working to improve access to infor-
mation for health workers in low-income countries. INASP-Health
provides other services including INASP-Health Advisory and Li-
aison service, INASP-Health Directory, (an on-line reference and
networking tool giving details of international health informa-
tion support programmes) and INASP Health Links (see under 4.
below). For more details visit http://www.inasp.info/health/.
ProNut-HIV
Pronut-HIV is a free email forum that aims to share up-to-date
information, knowledge and experiences on nutrition and
HIV/AIDS. It does not send attachments.
To join mailto:pronut-hiv-join@healthnet.org. When subscribing
the subject and body of the message will be ignored, so it does
not matter what you put there. When you receive a confirmation
message, you must reply to it to complete your subscription re-
quest. You may also join by visiting the web site
http://list.healthnet.org/mailman/listinfo/pronut-hiv or via
www.pronutrition.org. To send a message to ProNut-HIV email pro-
nut-hiv@healthnet.org. Information and archives are at
http://www.pronutrition.org.
Pronut-HIV is a collaboration between SATELLIFE and the Academy
for Educational Development (AED).
1.2 Email announcements of publications, meetings, etc.
* Arbor Clinical Nutrition Updates
Arbor Clinical Nutrition Updates, a service of the Arbor Nutri-
tion Guide, sends free regular reviews of research findings re-
lated to nutrition to health professionals and students. They
are available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian,
Korean and Japanese. The item reviewed is also sent as an at-
tachment in Acrobat Adobe so can be quite long (e.g. 180KB).
To receive the Clinical Nutrition Updates go to the website
http://arborcom.com or send an email to mailto:update@arbor.com
Include details of your name, email address, the country where
you live, the institution you are associated with (if relevant)
and your professional background.
The Arbor Nutrition Guide site at http://arborcom.com has a good
search engine and links to thousands of nutrition-related sites
(some being presently updated) including more list serves.
Baby Milk Action mailing list
Baby Milk Action is the UK member of the International Baby Food
Action Network IBFAN (see below). The mailing list sends occa-
sional alerts when there is new information on the Baby Milk Ac-
tion website - http://www.babymilkaction.org/. It does not send
attachments.
To subscribe mailto:info@babymilkaction.org or complete the con-
tact form at http://www.babymilkaction.org/pages/contact.html.
FAO Publications (FAO-BOOKINFO)
FAO Publications sends out regular announcements of its latest
publications under topic headings of which 'Nutrition' is one.
It does not send attachments. Titles together with a short de-
scription are given in the language of the publication.
To subscribe mailto:mailserv@mailserv.fao.org, leave the subject
blank and then put the following in the first line of the mes-
sage: subscribe FAO-Bookinfo-L. The HTML version of FAO-BOOKINFO
is available on-line at
http://www.fao.org/catalog/bullettin/last.htm
Food Security on the Development Gateway
Food Security on the Development Gateway sends regular updates
on publications related to food security. Members of the list
can customise the content and frequency of what they receive. It
does not send attachments.
To subscribe go to
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/um~user/showUserRegister.do
To see archives and to request documents by email go to
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/foodsecurity
International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) mailing list
The IBFAN mailing lists sends alerts when new information
(available in several languages) is posted on its website
http://www.ibfan.org. This includes 'Breastfeeding Briefs' (see
Information Sheet 1), reports from working groups and results of
monitoring baby food companies. It does not send attachments.
To subscribe complete the contact form on the website (e.g. for
English go to http://www.ibfan.org/english/contact/contactalert)
id21 HealthNews
id21HealthNews is a free e-newsletter that gives the latest re-
search and news on health issues in developing countries. It
gives a brief abstract of each item and a link to the full item
on the id21 website (http://www.id21.org). Email copies of the
full item can be requested. It does not send attachments.
To subscribe send an email to lyris@lyris.ids.ac.uk, with the
message: "subscribe id21HealthNews Firstname Lastname", e.g.
"subscribe id21HealthNews Emily Smith". For problems or queries
contact: id21@ids.ac.uk. To get free hard copies of 'insights
health', id21's annual print review of health research in devel-
oping countries, email your full postal address to
id21subscriptions@ids.ac.uk quoting "insights health" and stat-
ing how many free copies you would like to receive. Back issues
of 'insights health' are available at
http://www.id21.org/insights/index.html.
id21 is enabled by the UK Department for International Develop-
ment and hosted by the Institute of Development Studies at the
University of Sussex.
Lists hosted by the International Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI)
a. NEWatIFPRI
NEWatIFPRI is an email announcement-only list that updates sub-
scribers with the latest information available on the IFPRI web-
site (www.ifpri.org). It is sent out once or twice a month and
does not send attachments.
To subscribe, go to http://www.ifpri.org/new/NEWatIFPRI.htm.
b. IFPRI-TCSP (Training for Capacity Strengthening Program) List
Serve
IFPRI-TCSP List Serve sends monthly emails giving information
about capacity strengthening opportunities in food, agriculture,
nutrition, and natural resource policy in developed and develop-
ing countries. It disseminates information about training mate-
rials and training methods, announcements regarding fellowships
and scholarships, and relevant upcoming capacity strengthening
events. It does not send attachments.
To subscribe to the list send an email to LISTSERV@CGNET.COM. In
the body of the message write SUBSCRIBE IFPRI-STPC <your email
. To send an item for inclusion in the monthly newslet-
ter, email v.rhoe@cgiar.org. Visit the website at
http://www.ifpri.org/training/train_newsletter.htm
c. IFPRIEastAfricaNetwork
IFPRIEastAfricaNetwork is the e-mail list server for the IFPRI
Eastern Africa Food Policy Network, which sends messages and an-
nouncements to its subscribers. Its goal is to provide informa-
tion on food security, poverty alleviation, and natural resource
management, and to facilitate communication among researchers
and policy makers in Eastern Africa. All subscribers can use the
list server: to share information on ongoing research and re-
search findings, on policies enacted and on new publications; to
announce meetings and training activities; as a discussion forum
for issues related to food, agriculture and the environment in
eastern Africa; to request assistance in locating additional
relevant information. It does not send attachments.
To subscribe email IFPRI-EastAfrica@ifpri.bushnet.net giving
your name, occupation, organisation you are affiliated with, and
your interest in food, agriculture and the environment in East-
ern Africa. To post a message, email IFPRIEastAfricaNet-
work@cgiar.org. The website is at
http://www.ifpri.org/2020/nw/intro.htm
New at ICDDRB (New at International Centre for Diarhoeal Dis-
eases Research, Bangladesh)
New at ICDDRB sends regular emails listing the contents of
'Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition' which is published
by ICDDR,B: Centre for Health and Population Research. The full
text of each article in the journal and other ICDDR,B publica-
tions are on http://www.icddrb.org/pub/index.jsp . It does not
send attachments.
To subscribe go to http://www.icddrb.org/pub/index.jsp or
http://topica.com/lists/ICDDRBNews@topica.com
Nutrition News for Africa
Nutrition News for Africa sends out a bi-monthly state-of-the-
art research or policy paper (in English, French, and Portu-
guese) on Africa-related public health nutrition topics. The
email gives an abstract and the full article as an Adobe Acrobat
attachment (which can be long e.g. 150 - 350KB)). Nutrition News
for Africa is sent courtesy of Helen Keller International
(http://www.hki.org).
To receive these articles send an email to Micheline Ntiru
mntiru@mweb.co.za giving your name, title, and electronic ad-
dress.
The Pop Reporter
The Pop Reporter emails regular bulletins on health and develop-
ment issues giving the website on which items are posted to-
gether with the first few sentences of the item. One can choose
the type of topics received. It does not send attachments.
To join go to http://prds.infoforhealth.org/signup.php. To have
an item considered for inclusion in The Pop Reporter email the
URL and description to rjacoby@jhuccp.org. Archives are at
http://www.infoforhealth.org/popreporter/.
The Pop Reporter is a project of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School
of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs.
2. Web-based forums
* NutritionNet
NutritionNet provides a controlled platform for debate about new
concepts, practices and challenges particularly in the field of
emergency nutrition. To learn more and to register visit
http://www.nutritionnet.net and/or
mailto:Saskia.vd.kam@nutritionnet.nl
3. Advisory services
Iron Deficiency Project Advisory Service (IDPAS)
IDPAS provides technical information on iron deficiency anaemia
and iron nutrition to workers in developing countries and coun-
tries in transition. IDPAS has a large up-to-date fully search-
able documentation collection including over 2000 references,
many linked to full text documents. IDPAS also quickly responds
to requests for information via email or other channels on a
wide range of technical and program and public health areas re-
lated to iron and other micronutrients.
To register, visit IDPAS at the Micronutrient Initiative's web-
site http://www.micronutrient.org/idpas or email id-
pas@inffoundation.org.
IDPAS also produces the CD-ROM "Iron World" - for details see
the Nutrition Society's Information Sheet 3
(http://www.nutritionsociety.org/careers/studentsinfo). IDPAS is
a project of the International Nutrition Foundation.
4. Websites giving access to online journals
African Health Sciences
All back issues (up to 1 year) of African Health Sciences (pub-
lished by Makerere University Medical School, Uganda) are avail-
able free online. To access the journal go to
http://www.extenza-eps.com/extenza/contentviewing/viewJournalIssueTOC.do?issueId=2242
For more information and to subscribe to the journal email the
editor, James Tumwine, mailto:jtumwine@imul.com
African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development
(AJFAND)
AJFAND is a free on-line-only journal published in Kenya. To ac-
cess the journal go to www.ajfand.net. To get email alerts of
new issues email Ruth Oniang'o at oniango@iconnect.co.ke
African Journals OnLine (AJOL)
The AJOL website (http://www.ajol.info) provides free access to
tables of contents and abstracts for about 200 African journals
(which includes ones on medicine, agriculture and nutrition).
AJOL also offers a document delivery service, and full searching
and browsing facilities, as well as an email alert function. The
service is free to both users and participating journals (with
charges only for document delivery requests from outside devel-
oping countries).
AGORA - Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture
AGORA provides free or very low cost online access to over 400
major journals in agriculture and related sciences (including
some nutrition journals, e.g. Public Health Nutrition, Nutrition
Research Reviews, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, British
Journal of Nutrition) to registered public institutions in many
developing countries.
To register log on to http://www.aginternetwork.org/en/
AGORA is an initiative managed by the Food and Agriculture Or-
ganization of the United Nations.
The Cochrane Library
The Cochrane Library is a regularly updated electronic resource
designed to give the necessary evidence for informed healthcare
decision-making. It includes The Cochrane Database of Systematic
Reviews, which is a rapidly growing collection of regularly up-
dated systematic reviews of the effects of health care interven-
tions. The Cochrane Library is published on CD-ROM four times a
year. About 50 reviews are added every 3 months.
Visit the library at http://www.cochrane.org and the Database at
http://www.cochrane.org/cochrane/revabstr/newreviews.htm. For
more information contact secretariat@cochrane.org
enLINK - the Nestle Foundation e-library for Nutrition and Nu-
trition Research
enLINK is an on-line collection of key international nutrition
journals. The site is easy to search. Users in several develop-
ing countries can 'register' and then can obtain the full text
of each journal. Users in other countries can retrieve ab-
stracts.
To visit enLINK log on to http://www.enLINK.org.
enLINK is an initiative of the Nestle Foundation. Further infor-
mation from Paolo Suter nestle.foundation@vtxnet.ch
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
Directory of Open Access Journals contains information about
more than 1100 open access journals, (i.e. quality controlled
scientific and scholarly electronic journals that are freely
available on the web). Topics include Medicine (109 journals)
and Public Health (41 journals of which at least one is on nu-
trition). Users can search for articles in potentially all Open
Access Journals. The goal of DOAJ is to increase the visibility
and accessibility of open access scholarly journals and to cover
all open access scholarly journals that use an appropriate qual-
ity control system. To find out more visit http://www.doaj.org
or contact Lotte Jorgensen mailto:lotte.jorgensen@lub.lu.se or
Lars Bjornshauge mailto:lars.bjornshauge@lub.lu.se
The DOAJ is funded by the Information Program of the Open Soci-
ety Institute http://www.osi.hu/infoprogram/ and Lund University
Libraries, and supported by SPARC (The Scholarly Publishing and
Academic Resources Coalition,
(SPARC: Advancing Open Access, Open Data, Open Education) and BIBSAM (the Royal Library of Swe-
den).
HINARI - Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative
HINARI provides free or very low cost online access to one of
the world's largest collection of biomedical and health journals
(including about 18 nutrition journals, e.g. Public Health Nu-
trition, Nutrition Research Reviews, Proceedings of the Nutri-
tion Society, British Journal of Nutrition) to registered local
non-profit institutions in developing countries. Abstracts of
articles are available to all users without registration.
To visit HINARI or to register log on to
http://www.healthinternetwork.org/scipub.php and/or
http://www.healthinternetwork.org/src/eligibility.php or contact
the HINARI Team at mailto:hinari@who.int
HINARI is an initiative set up by WHO together with major pub-
lishers.
INASP Health Links
The ' International Network for the Availability of Scientific
Publications (INASP) Health Links' gateway has several pages
that note options for access to fulltext books and journals via
the Internet. These include:
Fulltext E-Books
http://www.inasp.info/health/links/ebooks.html
Full text E-Journals:
http://www.inasp.info/health/links/ejrlsdir.html
Fulltext E-Newsletters, Reviews and Factsheets:
http://www.inasp.info/health/links/eotherdir.html
Nutrition is listed as a topic and all the links selected give
additional links to many other useful websites and publications.
Also, the Information for Development page:
http://www.inasp.info/health/links/infodevt.html has links to
several sites relating to the subject of 'open access' including
the Digital Dividend Project Clearinghouse and Licensing Digital
Information: Developing Nations Clearinghouse. The pages give a
good overview of what is available via the Internet but requires
fast and cost effective access to this tool.
PERI - Programme for the Enhancement of research Information
PERI is managed by the International Network for the Availabil-
ity of Scientific Publications (INASP) (see above) and, among
other things, provides free or affordable access to many full-
text online journals, databases and document delivery services
for researchers in developing and transitional countries.
To visit PERI and find out more go to www.inasp.info/peri/ and
www.inasp.info/peri/resources.html.
World Health Organization Library database (WHOLIS)
WHOLIS at http://www.who.int/library/database/index.en.shtml in-
dexes all the published information produced by WHO, and has
links to the full-text of 21,000 documents in several languages.
TALC (Teaching aids At Low Cost) CD-ROM
TALC produces a free CD-ROM on Health and Development 2-3 times
a year. The CD contains INASP Health Links and the Cochrane Re-
views, as well as other material, some of which is directly re-
lated to nutrition. Using this CD can save a considerable amount
of time 'on-line'. To receive the TALC CD email info@talcuk.org
giving your name, organisation and position and postal address
or visit www.talcuk.org
The Nutrition Society thanks everyone who helped to prepare this
list especially colleagues at INASP.