A new free open-access independent peer-reviewed online medical
journal "Open Medicine" has been created.

From

Open Medicine
A peer-reviewed, independent, open-access journal
<http://www.openmedicine.ca/>:

   "Open Medicine

   The mission of Open Medicine is to facilitate the equitable
   dissemination of high-quality health research; to promote
   international dialogue and collaboration on health issues; to
   improve clinical practice; and to expand and deepen the
   understanding of health and health care.

   The Journal will examine issues relevant to health and clinical
   medicine both in Canada and internationally.

   [...]

   Open Medicine is a new general medical journal. It will be
   paperless and available without charge or any other barrier
   to access online. We will publish peer-reviewed science and
   analysis as well as clinical articles. We will provide a
   forum for informed and inclusive debates on medicine and its
   application. Open Medicine will be independent of any
   commercial publisher or association ownership — it will be
   "owned" by all who read and contribute to it — and will take
   no advertisements from companies selling pharmaceuticals or
   medical devices. We will rely on voluntarism, donations and
   ethical advertising. Any revenue will be used to improve our
   ability to meet the needs of our readers and contributors.
   
   This first edition of Open Medicine offers carefully reviewed
   and edited articles for discovery and discussion. In the
   future, it is our intention to make the journal not only
   open, but also collaborative. As an example, the editors
   considered the merits of publishing peer reviews along with
   accepted papers, and began reviewing the published evidence
   on the effectiveness of open peer review. Before reaching
   consensus, we realized that this is a discussion our readers
   and contributors should actively participate in. As we
   developed Open Medicine, we made extensive use of a wiki site
   and quickly realized how well it captured our combined
   efforts. We will continue to experiment with its use as an
   editing tool, and are discussing ways to add a wiki to our
   public site.
   
   Information technology is evolving at a blistering pace. To
   try to keep step with its potential to influence medical
   science and practice, Open Medicine is hosting a blog on the
   topic. To manage it, we are using an open-source program
   (Drupal). So, too, for our manuscript management system
   (OJS). The Open Source Initiative was developed at the close
   of the millennium with the idea that if one simply put a
   software program in a million hands, along with the tools to
   modify it, evolutionary changes would result in improvements
   that could not have been anticipated. That has borne true.
   Similar manifestations of collective wisdom have made
   Wikipedia the site of record for many and has allowed
   "Google" to change from noun to verb. Our intent is to
   harness as much power as possible from the collaborative
   potential of a connected world.8 With it, Open Medicine can
   publish articles as soon as they are peer reviewed and
   edited, host the discussion on their interpretation and
   perhaps even watch them change. Once they are published, they
   will be available to the widest possible audience and to the
   worldwide media who can cast them even further.
   
   The idea of free access to information, of putting knowledge
   into as many hands as possible to maximize the number of
   beneficial outcomes, has captured the hearts and minds of
   people for centuries, but has become a reality only in the
   past decade. It too has captured the people who rally around
   Open Medicine: A committed group of experienced medical
   editors to ensure high-quality content; a dynamic,
   accomplished, and international editorial board to contribute
   and offer advice; and a diverse and prominent board of
   directors to mind how well our mandate is fulfilled. These
   are the founding minds and hearts of Open Medicine.
   
   Ultimately, the success of Open Medicine will depend on how
   important our readers believe it is to have open access to
   high-quality medical information that is as free from
   commercial and political influence as possible. We believe
   there are few things more important.
   
   Time will be the test. In addition to an audience, Open
   Medicine will need international contributors and willing
   peer reviewers. Please write to us. Please write for us. Tell
   two colleagues. Those who can, please contribute financially.
   
   Open Medicine, although launched in Canada, is an
   international endeavour. Its strength will be a connected
   global community of interested, committed health workers.
   Like the country that birthed it, it will remain open,
   inclusive, and independent but its eyes, like those of its
   readers, will be on the world. We hope that you share our
   excitement about the future and being part of it."

From

Now You Can Read What Doctors See.
'Open Medicine' lets public view medical research. Med 2.0?
<http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2007/04/18/OpenMed/>:

   "TheTyee.ca

    Dr. Anita Palepu and a number of her colleagues have been
    taking the pulse of the way health information is disseminated
    in Canada. They say the prognosis isn't good.

   Between editorial gag orders, encroaching corporate influence
   and a glut of misinformation on the web, Palepu says medical
   publishing is grappling with big changes. As one of a number of
   editors caught up in last spring's bout of firings and mass
   resignations at the Canadian Medical Association Journal
   (CMAJ), the nation's most important medical journal, Palepu
   insists the need for free access to quality medical knowledge
   has never been greater.

   "It's sick," she says, speaking of the influence of big
   pharmaceuticals in traditional medical journals. "I hadn't
   realized until I left the CMAJ how bad things are in scholarly
   publishing, and particularly in scholarly medical publishing."

   The alternative publishing forum Palepu and other clinicians
   are launching this week, called Open Medicine pledges to put
   uncensored scholarly material in the hands of doctors and
   anyone interested in health, with no financial or political
   strings attached.

   But while both the average person and clinicians alike stand to
   benefit from immediate and free access to research, some
   question if the new generation of online medical journals --
   staffed mostly by volunteers and staunchly refusing to take ad
   money from pharmaceuticals -- will be a viable alternative to
   the old order.
   
   Unhealthy privilege
   
   Two recent U.S. studies suggest Open Medicine's launch comes at
   a favorable moment in time.
   
   An Ipsos study released last week found that the pharmaceutical
   sector "is suffering from a poor reputation among Americans," a
   third of whom have an "unfavorable" opinion of big pharmas.
   
   "Among other sectors measured, only the oil and gas, chemicals,
   and tobacco industries fare worse than the pharmaceutical
   sector," reads the study, noting that many of those polled
   suspected companies of profiteering at consumers' expense.
   
   But Barbara Cohen points to a more significant statistic.
   
   An editor at the U.S.-based Public Library of Science -
   Medicine, a pioneering open access journal, Cohen said studies
   in her country have shown that the Internet is radically
   changing where people go to learn about their health.
   
   She points to a PEW foundation report that found that medical
   information was the third most searched for topic on the
   Internet "after porn and dating and before sports and weather."
   
   "Clearly people are interested in finding out about medical
   topics," she said by phone from her office in San Francisco,
   "and most of what we consider the gold standard of recent
   research is not available to people unless they pay."
   
   Electronic snake oil
   
   John Willinsky, Open Medicine's volunteer publisher and an open
   access expert at the University of British Columbia, argues
   access to knowledge shouldn't cost the public a dime.
   
   As it stands, he says, the public pays twice for health
   sciences research. First through taxes, which are doled out as
   government grants to researchers, then by paying publishers to
   access that research, which he says is "locked up in expensive
   journals."
   
   In an interview with The Tyee, Willinsky said the current model
   puts the best information out of reach, since most individuals
   and even many libraries can't afford to see it.
   
   According to Palepu, individuals typically pay $150 per general
   medical journal, and institutions pay up to four times as much.
   Access to online subscriptions depend on anticipated numbers of
   students and faculty, and may be as high as $8000 for a single
   journal.
   
   Specialty journals, such as Brain Research, charge $20,000 for
   an annual subscription.
   
   Under the open access system, authors of research tend to pay
   to be published, said Palepu, who says the fees can be $1500 to
   2000 per article.
   
   Many funding agencies, however, recognize these fees as a
   legitimate research cost and now encourage grant recipients to
   publish their work in open-access venues "to increase
   visibility and accountability to the public."
   
   While the changes already won by open-access lobbyists have had
   some effect -- journals like the New England Journal of
   Medicine now offer select material for free -- advocates aren't
   satisfied. Willinsky, for one, says all research should be
   freely available. Failing to do so, he underscored, weakens the
   potential of the Internet, where prohibitive costs of
   information combined with the web's rising importance means
   more people are turning to free and unreliable health
   information on the web. ..."