Lister Hill Letter
Newsletter of the Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences at UAB

November/December 1999

PubMed Central

Ever since the dawn of the World Wide Web, there have been predictions about changes to the current paradigm of publishing research results in peer-reviewed medical and life sciences journals.  With the introduction of "PubMed Central," an ambitious proposal by NIH Director Harold Varmus*, those predictions are a step closer to reality.  PubMed Central (previously called "E-Biomed"), is currently scheduled to debut in January 2000 and is described as a "Web-based repository for barrier-free access to primary reports in the life sciences."  This repository will be the initial site in an international system, with other collaborating sites overseen by such agencies as the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).  PubMed Central will include peer-reviewed reports from participating journals as well as reports that have been screened by certifying groups but not subjected to peer review.  These reports will be freely available to the world's research community, with the non-peer-reviewed materials clearly identifiable.  The primary goals behind this initiative include: 1) maximizing the distribution and use of research results; 2) rapid, "seamless" dissemination of scientific information; 3) incorporation of presentation technology to enhance reports; 4) reduction in costs, and; 5) easy incorporation of accompanying features.  (These features might include an "open review" of research reports, notices of meetings and job postings and reprints of presentations at scientific meetings - currently a challenge, at best, to obtain - and the later amendment of reports filed earlier on the site.)

When the initiative was first announced this spring, a number of questions were raised leading to clarification of some issues and some revisions in the original proposal.  Among the concerns voiced by many journal publishers were that PubMed Central posed a threat to their existence while representing a poor means of communicating clinical advances.  There were also concerns about the cost of this venture and the means of archiving the electronic reports.  While admitting that the cost issues are not yet settled, Dr. Varmus maintains that at least some costs can be shifted from the user (in the form of subscriptions) to the author (in the form of submission and page fees), while scientific organizations that depend on revenues from publishing might increase their membership dues and workshop offerings as well.  He insists that PubMed Central is not intended to supplant peer-reviewed journals, and that the proposal should not be interpreted as an attempt by the NIH to "take over" a private activity.  He notes that, "the system we have proposed welcomes the participation of existing journals, does not obligate any journals to join, and would not be owned by the NIH or any other component of the U.S. government."  Varmus also points out in response to the concerns about the appropriateness of this means for publishing clinical research that "the results posted in [PubMed Central] that are most likely to affect health care will have been subjected to critical reviews and.readers will be clearly informed which results have been reviewed and by which editorial board."  He also notes the current existence of large amounts of health information on the Internet of widely variable quality, its evaluation being much more difficult than that of the proposed system.  Varmus does not foresee PubMed Central encouraging the posting of valueless and inaccurate research results, but does acknowledge that the overseeing "advisory group" will have to pay careful attention to the unreviewed segment of the system at least in its initial phases.  Finally, the NIH will assume responsibility for archiving the electronic contents for future access.  For more information, see "PubMed Central: An NIH-Operated Site for Electronic Distribution of Life Sciences Research Reports" at http://www.nih.gov/welcome/director/pubmedcentral/pubmedcentral.htm.
 

[*Note: Dr. Harold Varmus recently announced his intention to return to the private domain as CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York at the end of the year.]