[OKFN-IN] Open Access stories wanted

[Sridhar Gutam]

Posting on behalf of Jenny Molly < jenny.molloy at okfn.org>

*Open Access stories wanted*

Guest blog by Jenny Molloy – post graduate research student at the
University of Oxford who coordinates the Open Data in Science working group
at the Open Knowledge Foundation.

@ccess <http://access.okfn.org/> is a new initiative within the Open
Knowledge Foundation Network <http://okfn.org/> which aims to promote true
open access for all, under the terms of the Budapest Open Access
Initiative<http://www.soros.org/openaccess>
.

@access plans to develop tools to assist access to disease specific
research and enable research communities, healthcare providers and citizens
to interact with the scientific literature more easily. We also want to
demonstrate to funding agencies, policy makers, publishers and the general
public just how important open access to this kind of information is and to
ensure that positive steps are taken towards universal access to research.

However, there are no studies that we have found on the direct effect of
lack of access to the primary medical research literature on patient
outcomes (such a study would be very difficult to design) but there is
enough anecdotal evidence for us to believe that open access saves lives.

*To strengthen this assertion we are collecting stories of how open access
to the scientific literature directly helped in a diagnosis or treatment -
maybe even saved a life or on the other hand, a specific scenario where a
lack of access was harmful. An example of the kind of story @access are
looking for can be found in this article: Open Access to Scientific
Research—Sharing Information, Saving
Lives<http://www.soros.org/initiatives/information/focus/access/articles_publications/articles/openaccess_20070419>
*

We want to provide a public platform for these stories to raise awareness
of the problem of access to the primary literature, which we know forms
only a small part of the wider problem of access to medical and healthcare
information but does play an important role in that knowledge ecosystem.
If you can contribute with your story or would like to help guide the
development of tools for researchers and medical professional to discover,
discuss and share open access research - particularly by suggesting
features you would find useful, then please contact me at:
jenny.molloy at okfn.org.

Many thanks for your time and I hope some of you will have experiences that
you wish to share.

(
http://blogs.openaccesscentral.com/blogs/bmcblog/entry/open_access_stories_wanted
)
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