Springer Unleashes Free SpringerLink App for iPhone, iPod Touch

From the 3 January 2012 blog item at eContent

 

Springer’s SpringerLink science platform is now available in a free mobile app for iPhone and iPod touch, which can be downloaded from the Apple App Store. The app contains articles from over 2,000 peer-reviewed journals and chapters from 49,000 books, totaling over 5.4 million documents that span multiple areas of science, technology, and medicine.

Free content in the form of article abstracts, over 127,000 open access research articles, plus book and journal covers and other document details are included in the app. The SpringerLink app includes features like personalized notifications; “save” and “share” capabilities, including enabled sharing via email, Facebook, and Twitter; advanced search options; document details, including abstracts; and full-text views, which are available to institutional subscribers.

Springer publishes nearly 500 academic and professional society journals and is a part of the Springer Science+Business Media publishing group.

(www.springerlink.com)

Impact of free access to the scientific literature, including empowerment of health care consumers

From the 21 July 2011 blog item at  Science Intelligence and InfoPros, by hbasset

An excellent review in the latest JMLA:

The paper reviews recent studies that evaluate the impact of free access (open access) on the behavior of scientists as authors, readers, and citers in developed and developing nations. (…)

• Researchers report that their access to the scientific literature is generally good and improving (76% of researchers think that it is better now than 5 years ago)
• Publishers (Elsevier and Oxford UP) reveal an increase in the number of journals available at a typical university and an even larger increase in the article downloads
• For authors, the access status of a journal is not an important consideration when deciding where to publish (journal reputation is stronger)
• The high cost of Western scientific journals poses a major barrier to researchers in developing nations
• There is clear evidence that free access increases the number of article downloads, although its impact on article citations is not clear
• Recent studies provide little evidence to support the idea that there is a crisis in access to the scholarly literature
• Author’s resistance to publication fees is a major barrier to greater participation in open access initiatives
• The empowerment of health care consumers through universal access to original research has ben cited as a key benefit of free access to the scientific literature
• overall, the published evidence does not indicate how (or whether) free access to the scientific literature influences consumers’ reading or behavior
• current research reveals no evidence of unmet demand for the primary medical or health sciences literature among the general public
• most research on access to the scientific literature assumes a traditional and hierarchical flow of information from the publisher to the eader, with the library often serving ans an intermediary betwwen the two. Very little has been done to investigate alternative routes of access to the scientific literature

Davis, Philip M. & Walters, William H. The impact of free access to the scientific literature: a review of recent research. J Med Libr Assoc 99(3):208-17 (2011).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21753913

available at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3133904/

Related posts

• How to obtain free/low cost medical articles in medical and scientific journals
• “Summaries for Patients” and other plain language summaries help patients and others understand medical studies and guidelines

 

 

 

Related articles

• Challenging the Access Crisis (scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org)
• Peter Suber, Open Access Overview (definition, introduction) (earlham.edu)
• Do we need an alternative to peer-reviewed journals? (arstechnica.com)
• Science Longevity Paper Retracted (news.sciencemag.org)
• How the quality of the scientific literature impacts the evidence (kevinmd.com)
• Should scientific articles be available free online? (slate.com)

PubMed MeSH database changes

The PubMed** interface is being changed section by section.
The MeSH section has been revised. 
Here is a message from the GMRLIST (an email list for the National Network of Libraries of
Medicine-Greater Midwest Region (NN/LM-GMR) members)

Hi Folks,Many of you have noticed the change in the MeSH database interface.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh
NCBI is working to update the entire website – section by section.FYI:The Technical Bulletin article
on this change is at:http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/jf11/jf11_pm_mesh_db.htmlThe updated brochures “Searching PubMed with MeSH are at:
PDF: http://nnlm.gov/training/resources/meshtri.pdf
Word: http://nnlm.gov/training/resources/meshtri.doc

If you have comments or questions about the new interface, feel free to contact NLM directly –
they welcome your feedback.http://apps.nlm.nih.gov/mainweb/siebel/nlm/index.cfm/

Here is a related posting from MEDLIB-L (a medical librarian listserv)

Here’s what I recvd. from NNLM: There have been some changes to MeSH.
–>Type your search term in the MeSH box.
–>Then click the box(es) on the left to select your term(s).
 –>Then click on the far right: Add to Search Builder Here are some helpful resources
(you have to click CTRL + Click for the URLs to work).

PubMed’s MeSH Database**
Searching with the MeSH Database
<http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/viewlet/mesh/searching/mesh1.html> (3 min., February 2011)
* Combining MeSH Terms Using the MeSH Database
<http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/viewlet/mesh/combining/mesh2.html> (3 min., February 2011)
* Applying Subheadings and Other Features of the MeSH Database
<http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/viewlet/mesh/subheadings/mesh3.html> (3 min., February 2011)
You can also see the MeSH Database section in the tutorial:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/disted/pubmedtutorial/020_

**Pubmed is the largest database of biomedical journal articles (some are free full text) in the world.
It is most often best searched using medical subject headings (MeSH).

The above two hyperlinks (PubMed and MeSH) including Help pages and tutorials.
Please do not hesitate to contact a public librarian, academic librarian, or medical librarian for assistance
in searching PubMed or locating medical articles.
In the case of academic or medical settings, call ahead to see what services the library has for the general
public.You just might be pleasantly surprised!

(You may also email me at jmflahiff@yahoo.com…I am willing to give free assistance which would
include about an hour of my time)

A New Look and Feel for the PubMed Central® Public Access Page

Since 2005,  scientists and researchers who receive NIH research are required by law to make their research findings (in medical or scientific journals) freely available to the public.

These freely available full text articles are largely available through PubMed Central.
PubMed Central is a free electronic collection of medical, biomedical, biology, and life sciences literature developed and maintained by US government agencies. PubMed Central is a subset of PubMed, the largest collection of biomedical article citations and abstracts in the world.

PubMedCentral articles have unique identifiers (article reference numbers) referred to as PMIDs.

The news item below describes how PubMed Central (PMC) is making it easier to locate articles with PMCIDs.

 

From the National Library of Medicine (NLM) November 30th Technical Bulletin item

The PubMed Central (PMC) Public Access & PMC page, available from the sidebar on the About PMC page, was recently updated to provide greater clarity and usability. Two new features were added:

• Top-of-the-page links to navigate page content
• A table for locating article reference numbers

New Location for Navigation Links

The Public Access & PMC page was reorganized and links to the page content are now at the top of the page (seeFigure 1). The new design makes it easy to see what the page contains and how to find the answers to your Public Access-related questions.

We’ve Got Your NumbersAdditionally, a new table (see Figure 2) demonstrates all the ways to locate the identification number of an article or manuscript — whether you’re looking for a PubMed identifier (PMID), NIH Manuscript Submission identifier (NIHMSID) , or perhaps most important, the PMC identifier (PMCID), which is the identification number that must be cited by recipients of NIH funding to demonstrate compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy. As seen in the table below, you can find these numbers through viewing the PubMed abstract; a PMC search result; and in the PMC display for the final, published article or the author manuscript. To reach this table click on the question, “How can I find a PMCID, NIHMSID, and PMID?”

 

 

To see more of the article, click here.

An earlier posting includes PMC as one of a few suggestions to obtain free and low cost medically-related articles.
Click here for the posting.

 

 

Paying for access to medical journals

From a November 2010 Kevin MD blog item

by Josh Herigon, MPH

I’m not sure about the validity of this study: Free Access to U.S. Research Papers Could Yield $1 Billion in Benefits.

Quantifying how much money will be saved by increased efficiency due to open access seems like fuzzy math at best. However, we do need better access to medical journal articles. As a researcher, I’ve constantly fought the battle against firewalled journals. I am fortunate to be part of a university that has excellent access to most of the published medical research I need. But I still come across what is the researchers’ equivalent of the “blue screen of death”: the “login or purchase this individual article for $30″ screen.

The author goes on to explain why he does not buy individual articles. He also has recommendations for publishers (as consortiums and open access after a short embargo period).

As I blogged earlier, please keep in mind that many medical journal articles can be obtained at little or no cost. A great place to start is a local public or academic library. If they do not have it, they can often obtain it from another library for you at little or no cost.
For other suggestions, please go to How to obtain free/low cost medical articles in medical and scientific journalshttps://jflahiff.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/how-to-obtain-medical-articles-for-free-or-at-low-cost/

How to obtain free and low cost articles from biomedical journals

Heard about a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and want to read about the original research? Need to go to the source about a new surgical procedure? Medical articles, written by physicians and scientists just might be the answer.**

Most  medical articles are quite technically written and are published in journals which require paid subscriptions (even tho’ they are online!). Examples of medical journals include the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and the Lancet.

Medical journals (a type of scholarly journals) differ from popular magazines (as Psychology Today) in appearance, audience, and purpose. Duke University has a great comparison chart on the differences between scholarly journals and popular magazines.

A few great places to get free and low cost medical articles

• Libraries Many public libraries have at least some medical journals. Most college, university, and medical school libraries (and all receiving some state funding) are open to the public and provide some reference services to the general public. These academic libraries vary in the number of subscribed medical journals.
  Some hospital libraries are also open to the public.It is best to call ahead and ask a reference librarian to see if the library is open to the public, if they have the article you need, and if you can use their computers and printers. Ask about interlibrary loan from any library where you have borrowing privileges. Your library will try to get any article they do not have from another library (there usually is a charge, upwards of $11.00 or more  an article).
• PubMed Centra****l provides access to free articles submitted by authors and publishers. Some articles are free immediately when they are published, others are free on a delayed basis (ranging from a few months to a year). Check the PubMed Central home page for additional information. PubMed Central is a service of the US National Institutes of Health.
• Free Full PDF – Over 80 million free scientific publications
  Life sciences | Health sciences | Physics sciences and Engineering | Social sciences and Humanities
• Docline is the National Library of Medicine’s automated interlibrary loan (ILL) request routing and referral system. The purpose of the system is to provide efficient document delivery service among libraries in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM).

Individual users of NLM’s PubMed and the NLM Gateway do not have access to DOCLINE, but they can make use of its services by ordering documents through Loansome Doc, a document ordering service. All PubMed or NLM Gateway users ordering documents must identify a DOCLINE library or libraries that are willing to serve them (Ordering Library). The health professional performs a PubMed or NLM Gateway search, reviews the citations retrieved, and identifies specific documents to be ordered. Orders are sent to DOCLINE from either PubMed or the NLM Gateway. The NLM PubMed server manages all document-ordering activities.

LoansomeDoc is for people who are not affiliated with a health or medical institution that has a library. (If your institution has a library, just ask a librarian about ordering articles through interlibrary loan). To register for LoansomeDoc, contact the closest medical library.
They can help you set up an account, including payments for articles. You should be able
receive most, if not all, ordered articles via email.

• How to Access Journal Articles provides links to information resources and services.Includes links to free articles, strategies for obtaining articles, and paying for full text articles. By Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce.

• Contact the Author Email, fax, or write the author. Most authors are happy to provide a free copy of their articles if asked. Cannot locate an address or fax number? Ask a reference librarian!
• Contact the Publisher An increasing number of publishers are providing free copies of articles to patients, caregivers, and others who do not subscribe to their journals but only need a specific article for personal use.
  If the publisher does not advertise this free service, consider contacting them and requesting a specific article.  Need help contacting a publisher? Again, ask a reference librarian!

Some publishers which provide free or low cost articles (via PatientInform)

Elsevier Patient Research provides single copies of articles for $4.95. Elsevier publishes over 2,000 journals.

AACR’s (American Association for Cancer Research) policy for free patient access to medical articles—“If You Need It, You Can Read It”—can be found under Information for Readers/Subscribers.

The Endocrine Society For Patients page provides information on how to obtain free articles from its six endocrine research journals.

****Also, note that “The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH funded research. It requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. To help advance science and improve human health, the Policy requires that these papers are accessible to the public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication.”
I hear health sciences librarians are keeping busy advising researchers on how to comply with this.
http://publicaccess.nih.gov

**When a good summary of an article will do, check out the resources at Summaries for Patients” help patients and others understand medical studies and guidelines

Related articles

• Patients want to understand the medical literature (with links to resources for patients) (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• PubMed Health – A Growing Resource for Clinical Effectiveness Information (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Save Scholarly Ideas, Not the Publishing Industry – A Rant (Social Media Collective Research Blog at Microsoft)

PubMed® Display Enhanced with Images from the New NCBI Images Database

PubMed Abstracts of biomedical articles will soon include images included in the articles.

From a US National Library of Medicine Bulletin posting (Oct 22, 2010)

The PubMed (**)Abstract display for PubMed Central® (***)articles will be enhanced to include an image strip generated from the soon-to-be-released National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)(****) Images database…

…The image strip will display thumbnails of the article’s first several images. The image strip will also include a See all images link to display all the article’s images in the Images databases, as well as a Free text link to the article. Right and left arrows on each end of the strip will allow you to rotate through the images.

Mousing over an image in the image strip will generate a preview display of the image with its figure caption . Click on the image in the image strip, or the mouseover preview display, and go directly to the figure’s page in PubMed Central….

…Images Database

The Images database will allow you to search millions of scientific images from NCBI full text resources; the database initially includes images from PubMed Central..

….You will be able to search the Images database with terms or detailed search parameters, such as image height, width, and caption. The complete list of search fields is available from the Images Advanced search page. Image results initially display in a summary format (see Figure 4) but may also be viewed in a thumbnail display. Retrieval display order is based on a relevancy algorithm.

**PubMed is the largest indexer of biomedical journal articles in the world.  The home page includes links on how to search (tutorials, quick start guide). For further searching assistance, consider consulting with a public, academic, or medical reference librarian. Many articles indexed by PubMed are not freely available on the Internet. Again, check with a local public, academic, or medical library for access to journal articles. The library may charge a fee for some articles.

***PubMedCentral is the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. It is part of the PubMed database (index).

****NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. It includes PubMed and PubMedCentral.

[Editor Flahiff’s note: Many postings in this blog, especially Reuters and Health Day press releases, are based on articles indexed in PubMed]

Clinical Trials and Systematic Reviews: Managing Information Overload

From the blog Open Medicine dated October 4th, 2010

Bastian H, Glasziou P, Chalmers I (2010) Seventy-Five Trials and Eleven Systematic Reviews a Day: How Will We Ever Keep Up? PLoS Med 7(9): e1000326. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000326

Published: September 21, 2010

• When Archie Cochrane reproached the medical profession for not having critical summaries of all randomised controlled trials, about 14 reports of trials were being published per day. There are now 75 trials, and 11 systematic reviews of trials, per day and a plateau in growth has not yet been reached.
• Although trials, reviews, and health technology assessments have undoubtedly had major impacts, the staple of medical literature synthesis remains the non-systematic narrative review. Only a small minority of trial reports are being analysed in up-to-date systematic reviews. Given the constraints, Archie Cochrane’s vision will not be achieved without some serious changes in course.
• To meet the needs of patients, clinicians, and policymakers, unnecessary trials need to be reduced, and systematic reviews need to be prioritised. Streamlining and innovation in methods of systematic reviewing are necessary to enable valid answers to be found for most patient questions. Finally, clinicians and patients require open access to these important resources. [editor Flahiff’s emphasis]
  

If the results of a clinical study are published in a scientific journal, PubMed is the best way to search for information about the article. If you are having challenges searching PubMed, consider the tutorial at the home page of PubMed. You may also ask a reference librarian at a local public, academic, or medical library. Call ahead to see what level of assistance they offer.

Clinicaltrials.gov has the voluntary summaries of some clinical trials. Advanced search has the option Study results (select Studies With Results). Some results may be labelled “proprietary” (information not released to the public, sometimes called “industry secrets” ).