News Release

Full Text Of The BMJ Now Available On The World Wide Web

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BMJ

(The BMJ's website scales up. Now it provides free access to full text)

This week, for the very first time, the BMJ will appear in its full text version on the world wide web (www.bmj.com) with free unrestricted access for all. In an editorial, Dr Tony Delamothe and Dr Richard Smith of the BMJ discuss the uniqueness of the site and the advantages that it will bring to "surfers". The full text of all BMJ articles will be available worldwide at 00.01 London time on Friday mornings. Extra material will be posted on the website, including letters for which there is currently not space in the paper version. There will be a fully searchable archive of the journal back to the beginning of 1997 and eventually to 1994. Visitors will be able to access around 150 collections of material on subjects ranging from asthma through aging to end of life decisions. They can also register to be emailed the full contents list of the journal or material published on selected topics. All jobs advertised in the BMJ - about 700 - a week will also be listed.

The authors go on to admit that they are unsure as to format the website will take in the future; as "is usually the case with a new medium" that it is "handled like old media until its unique properties are recognised and exploited". However, they feel strongly that even though two per cent of the world's population are now estimated to be online, 75 per cent of the globe do not even have access to their own telephone. Delamothe and Smith conclude that if the Internet is to be a means of closing the information gap between the developed and developing world then organisations such as the BMJ have an obligation to ensure that the "world wide web" lives up to its name.

Contact:

Dr Richard Smith, Editor, BMJ, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London 100336.3120@compuserve.com

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