ECTE 2002

Epidemiology on the World Wide Web- an introduction

Dirk SchoonbaertITM Library

September 23, 2002

Major themes

Internet information resources.

Epidemiology and related subjects resources on the WWW.

Accessibility of electronic journals.

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.

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!).

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

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, …

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.

…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

ITM Library linking pages

http://lib.itg.be/biblinks.htmlinks to selected biomedical websites

http://lib.itg.be/journals.htmlinks to selected journal websites

http://lib.itg.be/ebooks.htmlinks to selected electronic books

Epidemiology

Biostatistics resources on the WWW Epidemiology.Net HealthWeb - Epidemiology Supercourse: Epidemiology, the Internet

and global health WWW Virtual Library – Epidemiology …

Infectious diseases

Various CDC divisions Various WHO divisions Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis &

Malaria UNAIDS TDR - Tuberculosis RBM - Roll Back Malaria …

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 …

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).

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).

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% !

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.

… 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. …

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 ?