Improving Global Access to State of the Art Practice Information

Abstract

In developing countries, medical students and residents commonly use textbooks to acquire fundamental medical knowledge. However, textbooks are not a good resource for remaining up to date on the latest developments in their specialties once they begin to practice. These advancements are typically presented at meetings and published in journals. Attending meetings is prohibitively expensive. Unfortunately, so is accessing journal articles. The practice of up-to-date medicine in developing countries is difficult because of the lack of access to contemporary scientific literature. Access fees for each article published in restricted-access and paid-access journals range from $30 to $40, regardless of where a clinician practices. Individual subscriptions to closed-access journals are even more expensive. Because library subscriptions are still more costly, even medical institutions in low-income countries often cannot afford to pay the price (56% of medical institutions in low-income countries have no closed-access journal subscriptions) [1]. As a result, the only alternatives available to practicing physicians wishing to stay abreast of advances in their field are to read just the abstracts, to request copies of articles from their corresponding authors, or to read handouts offered by medical industry representatives [2].