Subject: Re: PUBMED CENTRAL (Stevan Harnad)
David Goodman (dgoodman@Princeton.EDU)
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 16:32:03 -0400
Message-Id: <37CC3A25.18B61C14@princeton.edu> Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 16:32:03 -0400 From: David Goodman <dgoodman@Princeton.EDU> To: arl-ejournal@arl.org Subject: Re: PUBMED CENTRAL (Stevan Harnad) References: <199908311352.JAA18766@Princeton.EDU>
Now that this eagerly-awaited project will very soon be a reality,
I wonder if there remains interest in a corresponding site in the
LANL tradition for un-screened articles. (There are many
possibilties: perhaps the BMJ archive will meet the need, or that
e-cogsci or xxx.lanl could expand to cover the area.)
I suggest that however good the reasons for the screening approach of
the NIH proposal, there will remain a role for a similar server that
does not have those restrictions.
For a variety of reasons, it might be good to have such a distinction,
and search engines could easily be devised that will search them both
(or, more likely, search them all.)
-- David Goodman Biology Librarian, and Co-Chair, Electronic Journals Task Force Princeton University Library dgoodman@princeton.edu http://www.princeton.edu/~biolib/ phone: 609-258-3235 fax: 609-258-2627ERCELAA@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu wrote: > > Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 09:28:13 +0100 > From: Stevan Harnad <harnad@COGITO.ECS.SOTON.AC.UK> > Subject: NIH's Public Archive for the Refereed Literature: PUBMED CENTRAL > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 18:37:39 -0400 > From: "Varmus, Harold" <hvarmus@mail.nih.gov> > > The commentary period for the E-biomed proposal has > been enormously helpful, and after considering the > hundreds of letters and e-mail messages we have > received, and the many meetings we have held, we > have issued a statement on e-publication and the NIH > repository for life sciences literature. > > It will also be available on the NIH Web site at > http://www.nih.gov/welcome/director/pubmedcentral/pubmedcentral.htm > > Thank you for your help in this work. I welcome your > ongoing support of PubMed Central. > > Harold Varmus, M.D. > Director, National Institutes of Health > > PUBMED CENTRAL: AN NIH-OPERATED SITE FOR > ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION OF LIFE SCIENCES RESEARCH REPORTS > > In the four months since we proposed E-biomed -- a system > that would make results from the world's life sciences > research community freely available on the Internet > (http://www.nih.gov/welcome/director/ebiomed/ebiomed.htm) -- > we have heard from hundreds of people and have had > discussions with dozens of interested organizations. Whether > they support or oppose the proposal, these commentators have > made valuable suggestions, many of which have been > incorporated into this statement. > > Although the fundamental principles that motivated our > proposal remain, specific aspects have evolved in significant > ways. First, the scope of the content has expanded to > include the life sciences in general, including plant and > agricultural research as well as biology and medicine. > Second, the screening of non-peer-reviewed reports will be > the responsibility of groups that have no direct relationship > to the NIH. > > In an effort to put the system into operation, the NIH will > establish a Web-based repository for barrier-free access to > primary reports in the life sciences. This repository -- > which we consider to be the initial site in an international > system -- will be called PubMed Central, based on its natural > integration with the existing PubMed biomedical literature > database. PubMed itself will extend its coverage of the life > sciences and continue its linkage to external online > journals. > > PubMed Central will archive, organize and distribute peer- > reviewed reports from journals, as well as reports that have > been screened but not formally peer-reviewed. In addition, > it will coordinate with similar efforts to establish servers > internationally, including those overseen by the European > Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). Scientific > publishers, professional societies, and other groups > independent of the NIH will have complete responsibility for > the input to PubMed Central. Copyright will reside with the > submitting groups (i.e., the publishers, societies, or > editorial boards) or the authors themselves, as determined by > the participants. > > Peer-reviewed reports will be provided to PubMed Central from > participating publishers and societies that have mediated the > review process. The submission of content to PubMed Central > can occur at any time after acceptance for publication, at > the discretion of the participants. Although early > deposition offers the greatest benefit to the scientific > community, we recognize the concerns of publishers about > financial consequences of rapid submission and will welcome > content submitted at any time. > > The non-peer-reviewed reports will also enter PubMed Central > through independent organizations, which will be responsible > for screening this material. Many of the non-peer-reviewed > reports will be "preprints," both deposited in PubMed Central > and subjected to formal peer review by journal editorial > boards. In other cases, these reports may never be submitted > to a journal for traditional peer review, yet will be > deposited in PubMed Central because, in the judgment of the > screening organization, they provide valuable data to the > research community. Some publishers and societies have > already planned preprint servers, and we believe that such > groups -- and other responsible groups yet to be constituted > -- can bring diversity and experience to the oversight of the > non-peer-reviewed material. We emphasize that this material > will be clearly distinguishable from the peer-reviewed > content of PubMed Central. > > NIH's responsibility will be limited to maintaining this > central repository, specifically: > > * Facilitating the input of SGML-tagged content from > submitters; > * Developing technology for enhanced retrieval, > presentation, and navigation; > * Improving the access to and utility of the content in > PubMed Central for other information resources, > publishers, and database groups; > * Coordinating with the repository efforts of international > partners in the system; and > * Archiving the content and working to guarantee > accessibility in the future. > > An international advisory committee will be constituted by > learned societies interested in fostering the development of > PubMed Central and the collaborating international > repositories. One of the important functions of the > advisory committee will be to establish criteria for > certifying groups that may submit peer-reviewed or screened > material to PubMed Central. In the meantime, the initial > criteria will be: > > * Any journal currently indexed by the major abstracting > and indexing services: EMBASE, Biosis, MEDLINE, Science > Citation Index, Agricola, PsycINFO, and Chemical Abstracts. > * Any organization with at least three members who are > principal investigators on research grants from major > funding agencies and foundations (for example, NIH, NSF, > DOE, NASA, or HHMI in the United States, and equivalent > organizations abroad). > > In order to facilitate participation in this initiative, some > of the expenses associated with publication may shift from > readers to authors. As they do with journal subscriptions, > page charges, and reprints, NIH grantees (and those of other > funding agencies) may choose to use funds to pay any > additional expenses, e.g., submission and document > preparation charges. > > Participating journals and other organizations will submit > complete research reports to PubMed Central and access to the > entire report will be free to individuals through PubMed > Central. The status of all reports -- peer-reviewed or > screened -- and the identity of the contributing organization > will be clearly indicated. The PubMed Central staff will > work with the publisher to establish an efficient data flow > and make this content available as soon as possible. They > will also work to satisfy publishers' needs to preserve the > distinctive appearance of their journals' contents in PubMed > Central without compromising the overall utility of the > repository. Appropriate links to the publisher's site will > also be included. PubMed Central will solicit the views of > participating publishers to best serve their needs and > enhance the value of the overall resource. > > We now invite the scientific community to engage in this > exciting new venture. We plan to be ready to make reports > accessible through PubMed Central by January 2000. > Publishers, societies, editorial boards and other > organizations interested in depositing content in PubMed > Central are urged to contact us at PubMedCentral@nih.gov. > > August 30, 1999
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