E-drug: Offer of medical journals (cont'd)
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[E-druggers, a while ago Valeria made the generous and exemplary
offer to share read copies of a few medical journals with colleagues
in developing countries, preferably those who cannot afford having
a subscription otherwise. She is now being bombarded with
requests for free journals, and even requests for free on-line access
to journals, which is a completely different issue! I can see two
solutions: 1) will the true needy professionals stand up and the rest
withdraw their request, or 2) are there other well-to-do colleagues
who would be willing to join forces with Valeria and set up a journal
sharing service for colleagues in developing countries? The initiative
could even be extended to (slightly) older versions of standard
reference works, which are nowadays updated every couple of
years. HH]
Dear e-druggers,
I need to clarify my message of yesterday, as I've already received
many replies which show that it was either not clear, or
misunderstood.
I am not able to offer free online access to any journal and to
anyone.
What I said is that between me and my colleagues we will be able
to send out paper copies of the BMJ, in some cases of the Lancet,
and that I will be able to send my own copies of the NEJM.
However, the BMJ can already be freely accessed on-line by
anyone (www.bmj.org and from the Jan 1994 issue). The Lancet
should be one of the journals which will shortly become available
electronically to low-income countries for free in the near future
(see last week's deal and e-drug message +BMJ article).
What I'd like to know from those who replied, especially those in
medical institutions, is whether I am right in my assumption that
you have both relatively easy internet access (otherwise we
wouldn't be having this dialogue) and adequate printing facilities so
that you can benefit from the electronic journals and don't need the
paper copies very much.
Valeria
--
Dr. Valeria Frighi
Diabetes Trials Unit
Radcliffe Infirmary
Woodstock Road
Oxford OX2 6HE
UK
tel. -44-1865-228422
fax -44-1865-224584
e-mail valeria.frighi@dtu.ox.ac.uk
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