PHA-Exch> Médecins Sans Frontières open access website launched

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Vern Weitzel <vern.weitzel at gmail.com>
crossposted from: "[health-vn discussion group]" health-vn at cairo.anu.edu.au

The international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF) has launched an open-access website on which it makes available
published research based on its medical work.

The site, http://www.fieldresearch.msf.org, requires no password or sign-up
and full-text articles are available for free. MSF hopes that health
professionals, policy makers and researchers, especially those in developing
countries, will now have easier access to the results of MSF's field
research.

Although MSF is well known for providing emergency medical assistance, the
organisation carries out significant field research based on its work with
vulnerable populations. This research has often changed clinical practice
and health policy in developing countries. At its launch, the field research
site includes over 400 archived articles on issues including HIV care,
malaria, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, refugees and health politics.

It also features conference abstracts and a section called 'Programme
Descriptions' that describes lessons learnt from MSF's field experience. As
new articles are published, they will be archived on the site. The field
research website initiative was made possible through the kind cooperation
of over 30 publishers representing 100 journals in which MSF research has
been published. These include The Lancet, BMJ, New England Journal of
Medicine, PLoS Medicine and Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical
Medicine and Hygiene.

MSF sincerely thanks these journals and publishers for their permission to
archive these articles, particularly The Lancet and Elsevier as the first
major journal and publisher to grant permission to archive their articles,
thereby encouraging other publishers to follow suit. All publishers are
listed on the site and each article gives appropriate attribution.

Contact Details
Tony Reid, website co-developer. Email:  tony.reid at brussels.msf.org. Tel:
+44 207 067 4236.
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