Freedom of information - The impact of free access on biomedic...( Science is changing. Soon scientific...)

Science is changing. Soon, scientific research will be made freely available to all online. PubMed Central and other free access initiatives are making it clear that the way science is communicated, used and done will change forever. But what will the impact of free access publishing be on the working lives of scientists, publishers, librarians and the general public? And what effect will free access to research have on science itself? Some of the key players from the scientific community are due to discuss these issues at a conference to be held on 6-7 July 2000 in New York.

"Personal computers and the Internet promise revolutionary changes in methods of scientific publishing that have persisted for three hundred years," says Dr Harold Varmus, President of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center who will address the conference. "Now we have the opportunity, and the imperative, to distribute scientific findings in a fashion that allows free access and serves the scientific community and the public in a highly responsible way. We need to know how this will change the way we, as scientists, go about our business."

"Not all publishers and librarians are adding enough value to the information they handle," says Jan Velterop, Director of Publishing at Nature who will also be speaking at the conference. "If they are going to continue to earn their existence, they must find new ways to serve the scientific community. But does "freedom of information" mean information for free? This conference will be a very important forum to discuss this issue."

The conference will be held on the 6-7 July 2000 at the New York Academy of Medicine, New York, USA. Information on the event and registration details are available on-line at www.biomedcentral.com/conference.asp.

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Contact: Andrew McLaughlin
andrew@biomedcentral.com
44-20-7323-0323
BioMed Central
3-May-2000