This partnership is an example of how BioMed Central's open access policy allows the peer-reviewed articles it publishes to receive maximum visibility.
The mirror site, and all of its content, will be freely available to anyone with an internet connection at http://bmc.ub.uni-potsdam.de/. The site offers browsing, metadata search and full text search of over 2,400 articles. Articles are available in HTML or PDF formats, and users can also access high-resolution graphics and videos.
Dr. Andreas Degkwitz, Director of the University Library of Potsdam and responsible for the archive, explains why this archive has been established:
"The mirror server is a contribution to free access to scientific information on the internet. Its creation is part of a project, promoted by the German Research Association of the University Library of Potsdam, which focuses on new forms of access to scientific information."
Archiving content in multiple repositories helps to guarantee long-term digital permanence. In some cases, where internet bandwidth is limited, a local mirror can also give users faster access.
All the research articles published in BioMed Central's journals are already archived at the United States National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central site (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov) and by INIST, the documentation centre of French scientific research organization CNRS.
Matthew Cockerill, BioMed Central's Technical Director, would like to see other mirror sites of the publisher's content:
"We encourage any institution to locally archive the open access research that we publish - it's an important aspect of our open access policy that institutions (and anyone else) are allowed to do this. Any institution wanting to set up a mirror should contact us."
To view the Potsdam mirror site, please go to http://bmc.ub.uni-potsdam.de
For further information please contact Dr. Andreas Degkwitz, Acting Director of the Library, University of Potsdam
Phone: 0049331/977-1249
Fax: 0049331/977-1458
E-Mail: degkwitz@rz.uni-potsdam.de
Alternatively, contact Matt Cockerill, Technical Director, BioMed Central
Phone: 44-207-373-0323
E-mail: press@biomedcentral.com
For further information about BioMed Central visit http://www.biomedcentral.com/info BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com) is an independent online publishing house committed to providing immediate free access to the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that open access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science. In addition to open-access original research, BioMed Central also publishes reviews and other subscription-based content.