Electronic Publishing of Scholarly Communication in the Biomedical Sciences

The main purpose of biomedical publishing is to convey the evolving scientific understanding of living organisms and the use of that understanding as the basis of health care among researchers, practitioners, and (increasingly) consumers. Published papers also serve as an archive of scientific knowledge, documenting both successful and unsuccessful results. Biomedical journals serve other purposes as well, such as providing benchmarks for academic promotion and revenue for professional societies and publishers. While MEDLINE has become ubiquitous and an increasing number of journals are available electronically, the fundamental model of publishing is unchanged. However, a number of challenges to that model are emerging. Boyd and Herkovic1 describe four challenges to scholarly publication: It is not altogether clear in what ways …