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Major themes

ECTE 2002 Epidemiology on the World Wide Web - an introduction Dirk Schoonbaert ITM Library September 23, 2002. Major themes. Internet information resources. Epidemiology and related subjects resources on the WWW. Accessibility of electronic journals. Too much information.

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Major themes

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  1. ECTE 2002 Epidemiology on the World Wide Web- an introductionDirk SchoonbaertITM LibrarySeptember 23, 2002

  2. Major themes • Internet information resources. • Epidemiology and related subjects resources on the WWW. • Accessibility of electronic journals.

  3. Too much information • Many millions of webpages are available on the Internet. • There are huge differences in quality, relevance, reliability. • Every day thousands of pages are added, updated, removed or have their address (‘URL’) changed.

  4. Too little information • Not all data that are published on paper or in electronic databases are also available on the Internet. • Not all electronic resources can be accessed by everybody (intranets!) or for free (commercial services!).

  5. Web indexes Word-based machine-generated indexes: generally far too many pages are found. Luckily relevance-ranking is improving all the time. E.g.: • Google • Hotbot • Teoma

  6. Web directories Subject-based human intellectual endeavour: hierarchically structured, often evaluated, annotated. E.g.: • General, comprehensive: Yahoo, Open Directory Project, … • Biomedical & health related: HealthWeb, MedlinePlus, Excite – Health, … • Covering specific topics, e.g. epidemiology, disease outbreaks, …

  7. Types of available resources … • General information: e.g. fact sheets, problem or disease descriptions, major control or treatment measures, policy statements, … • Links, addresses, conference calendars, course materials, reading lists, software, … • Publication catalogues: full-text versions may be available in print only, but descriptions, summaries and sample chapters are often offered freely on the website.

  8. …Types of available resources • Newsletters: often full-text and free. • Electronic journals editions (see later). • Bibliographic databases: Medline, Popline, Population Index, … • Factual databases: DHS, UNAIDS, … • Knowledge databases: Cochrane Library

  9. ITM Library linking pages • http://lib.itg.be/biblinks.htm links to selected biomedical websites • http://lib.itg.be/journals.htm links to selected journal websites • http://lib.itg.be/ebooks.htm links to selected electronic books

  10. Epidemiology • Biostatistics resources on the WWW • Epidemiology.Net • HealthWeb - Epidemiology • Supercourse: Epidemiology, the Internet and global health • WWW Virtual Library – Epidemiology • …

  11. Infectious diseases • Various CDC divisions • Various WHO divisions • Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria • UNAIDS • TDR - Tuberculosis • RBM - Roll Back Malaria • …

  12. Disease outbreaks • Disease Outbreak News (CSR) • ENIVD – European Network for Diagnosis of Imported Viral Diseases • INCLEN – International Clinical Epidemiology Network • PROMED – Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases • …

  13. Electronic journals • Originally ‘experimental’ electronic-only journals + ‘preprint archives’ (paradigm shift). • Electronic adverts for established journals. • Additional contents: tables of contents (TOCs), abstracts, full-text (HTML vs PDF). • Additional functionality: searching, alerts (TOCs or keywords), linking with databases, electronic submission and peer review, multimedia, online-only content, … • Electronic edition >> print edition (e.g. BMJ).

  14. Pricing policy • Online access free for all: EID; MMWR; … • Online access free for all after some delay: Proceedings NAS; ASM journals; … • Online access included in print subscription: International Journal of Epidemiology, ... • Online access as paid supplement to print subscription: TM&IH (e.g. 110% - 130%). • Online access only at reduced price: ASM journals (e.g. 90%). • Package deals; Consortia (e.g. Science Direct).

  15. Complications • Institutional vs. individual: transparant IP-based registration vs. explicit username + password combination. • HTML vs. PDF; figures and tables often as separate files. • Backfiles: availability? permanence? • Higher VAT category: 21% vs. 6% !

  16. New initiatives … • PubMed Central: free access to established journals after 6 months. • HighWire Press: re-empower learned societies as scientific publishers. • HINARI – Health Internetwork & SciDev.Net: special conditions for developing countries. • BioMed Central: a series of new electronic-only peer reviewed journals, financed by author fees.

  17. … New initiatives • SPARC – Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition: offer new alternatives for expensive journals. • Public Library of Science: boycot? revolution? • Open Archives Initiative: self-archiving, using global interconnectivity protocols. • Budapest Open Access Initiative. • …

  18. Conclusion • Electronic journals as a new improved distribution medium for scientific information: no hype – compare e.g. 1994 to 2002. • Free availability of all journals for everybody: too naive a vision. Don’t expect too much. • Authorship, responsibility, recognition ? • Quality control for biomedical information ?

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