EDITORIALS
                  PubMed Central: The JNM Perspective
                                                                       tion in JNM any manuscript            that has      scripts,   news columns,        editorials,   in
                  JLn May 1999, Dr. Harold Varmus of                   appeared on PubMed Central.                         vited      commentaries,          educational
                  the National Institutes of Health (NIH)                 The primary concern that the SNM                 articles,   letters  to the editor)     in each
                  proposed     a web-based       repository    for     and I have regarding PubMed Central                 issue. Grouping only the scientific ar
                  the electronic     distribution    of primary        is that it does not make sense to give              ticles from every journal together in 1
                  research    content    in the life sciences.         away the scientific information          that is    giant archive may aid in research ef
                  This    public     database,     now called          gathered and nurtured by the journals.              forts, but such a repository negates the
                  PubMed Central, began this past winter               One very significant point that was lost            importance      of the milieu that brought
                  with    the  posting     of   1 journal     (the     on the developers of PubMed Central is              those articles to light. Siphoning off the
                  November issue of Molecular Biology                  that there are very legitimate         reasons      original    investigations    that rose from
                  of the Cell). In March 2000, the Pro                 why professional       societies   have been        that complex milieu can only weaken
                  ceedings    of the National Academy           of     formed in virtually every specialty of              the professional     society that originally
                  Sciences of the United States of America             science and medicine. Instead of trying             published them. As with most issues, it
                  also started posting to PubMed Central.              to be all things to all people, societies           is a matter of economics; yet it is also a
                  Although the intent of this project is to            (and their resulting publications)         offer    question of maintaining the viability of
                  eventually    have the scientific offerings          information     and services that specifi           scientific   and medical        organizations.
                  of all periodicals    available in 1 central         cally fit the needs of individuals       in that    Professional     society membership         dues
                  location, as of May 2000 only 5 of the               particular   field.  The Lancet published           pay for journals,     which, in turn, reflect
                  "next wave" of 12 additional journals                an editorial    last  year that makes an            current issues and promote advances in
                  that were promised have yet made it to               insightful   point:  "For medical journal           that particular    field. Lessening     the im
                  the Web. Despite a rather inauspicious               readers,   PubMed Central would be a                pact and viability of those journals will
                  beginning,     this   vast  proposal     to ar       bore. Readers      do not subscribe        to a     have obvious and deleterious effects on
                  chive,   organize,    and distribute      every      database.   They subscribe        to read the       the societies themselves.
                  peer-reviewed      article  in the scientific        mix of material that editors put before                The second point that needs to be
                  literature   seems, at first, to be an ex            them in each issue: reviews and opin                emphasized      is that I will not consider
                  tremely worthy endeavor. However, a                  ion, editorials and commentaries,        news,      for publication     in JNM any report that
                  closer look at Varmus's proposal sug                 series,  general     interest   material,    to     has been posted on PubMed Central.
                  gests that PubMed Central's role as an               gether with carefully reviewed, edited,             This needs to be made clear because
                  everyman's      database is actually more            and presented      primary     research"    (2).    the proposal for this archive includes
                  excessive than impressive in its scope               All of these components           offer a de        not only previously          published     peer-
                  U).                                                  tailed  scope of what is happening            in    reviewed articles but studies that have
                     PubMed       Central    is  primarily     in      that specialty    at that particular      time.     not gone through this fundamental pro
                  tended to be an archive of scientific                However, according         to Varmus, who           cess.   The NIH has announced                that
                  reports recently published by scientific             was director of the NIH when PubMed                 these will be screened by the organiza
                  and medical journals. The idea is that               Central was proposed and during pre                 tions that submit them and identified as
                                                                       liminary development, established jour              non-peer-reviewed          articles.   (Several
                  publishers    will provide all original ar           nals would retain their appeal because              troubling issues that arise regarding the
                  ticles from each issue at a time chosen              of their news coverage and commen                   inclusion    of these reports follow this
                  by each publisher. Such an archive is                tary on policy issues, none of which                paragraph.)     Regardless     of their pedi
                  seen by some as an improved format                   would be incorporated          into PubMed          gree for inclusion in PubMed Central, I
                  for the dissemination        of clinical    and     Central (3).                                         cannot consider them for publication in
                  basic science research—not only will it               What Varmus failed to realize is that            JNM simply         because     that   inclusion
                  be free from the time and financial                 the scientific    content    of society jour         means that they have been previously
                  constraints   of printing, but all informa           nals is decidedly     not a separate entity         published. This policy is based on our
                  tion will be free and open to anyone                 from the rest of the periodical. Publica            adherence      to   the   Uniform     Require
                  with Internet access. However, the JNM,              tions such as JNM have the impact that              ments for      Manuscripts      Submitted      to
                  like many major scientific publishers                they do on their readers and the medi               BiomédicalJournals (4).
                  and professional      societies,  is declining      cal community        at large because they              When PubMed Central was first pro
                  to participate     in PubMed Central. In            contain pertinent information in a vari              posed,    the emphasis       was on rapidly
                  addition, I will not consider for publica           ety   of   forms     (e.g.,  original    manu        posting scientific reports in an effort to
                                                                                                                          PUBMEDCENTRAL•Sandier                     1123
                         disseminate this information as quickly                                        Another troubling issue is Varmus's                                  for each issue through 1999 in archive
                         as possible. Perhaps the original justifi                                 proposal that the costs associated                           with         form and the full text of Newsline in a
                         cation of including non-peer-reviewed                                     publication should shift from readers to                                  portable         document            format        (PDF).        In
                         articles       was that the peer-review                       pro         authors (6). There would be only negli                                    the near future, we will follow the lead
                         cess would slow down the sharing of                                       gible       costs      for     articles       provided           by       of other publishers                  and organizations
                         such        studies.          However,             now that               established            journals,          because           these         by providing full text on line to mem
                         PubMed Central only expects publish                                       would already be in the proper format                                     bers and subscribers.                  This will include
                         ers to provide articles some time after                                   for posting on the archive. The shifting                                  the ability           of researchers              to link to
                         publication, that argument for the inclu                                  of expenses would apply primarily to                                      many of the reference citations directly
                         sion of non-peer-reviewed                          reports       no       the electronic              archiving          of the non-                from the original                 article      and thereby
                          longer       holds.       Again, the editorial                   in      peer-reviewed              reports. As the editor of                      thoroughly examine a particular article
                          The Lancet echoes one of the major                                       a medical/scientific                 journal,         I find it           on the Web with ease. The on-line
                         concerns of scientific and medical pro                                    problematic            to accept that authors of                          servers        that     would be used for this
                         fessional          societies:          "One        legitimate             non-peer-reviewed                   manuscripts            could          purpose          have been in operation                         for
                         anxiety is that doctors and the public                                    pay to have these articles distributed                                    several years; therefore, the technology
                         might         have       access         to    non-peer-re                 globally         on a Web site that has any                               involved has been proven. On the other
                         viewed,         and therefore              unreliable,          re        affiliation        with the U.S. Government.                              hand, the technological                   and administra
                         search findings" (2). However, this was                                   Although           the NIH has made it clear                              tive     logistics        of such a colossal                   en
                         followed           by the reasoning                   that      the       that     neither        it  nor any governmental                          deavor         as PubMed Central are truly
                         Internet is already full of 'junk science'                                agency endorses PubMed Central and                                        daunting;          in fact, skepticism                exists as
                         and that most physicians are becoming                                     that its involvement                is only to facilitate                 to how such a task could be accom
                         familiar         with       research         methods           (2);       the archiving,             it is difficult          for many              plished (7).
                         thus,      all    clinical       and basic scientists                     individuals           and groups not to infer a                                The greatest             asset     of the PubMed
                         should         be able to analyze                    scientific           connection.                                                               Central concept is the near immediate
                         papers on any possible topic and deter                                         Finally, any article on PubMed Cen                                   universal         access of material.                 Perhaps,
                         mine for themselves                     whether          the ar           tral that did not originally                     appear in a              some day, that will be a possibility.
                         ticles have merit. This is a rather naive                                 medical or scientific journal may not be                                  However,             as     proposed           and       imple
                         view that implies that all medical and                                    adequately            scrutinized          for conflict          of       mented, PubMed Central cannot offer
                         science professionals                 have the time and                   interest between the authors and compa                                    the assurances               necessary          to maintain
                         ability       to familiarize            themselves           with         nies who funded the studies. Would all                                    the integrity of JNM should it partici
                         every aspect of every scientific field.                                   organizations            that submit such reports                         pate in this endeavor.                     Therefore,           we
                              In addition to somehow managing to                                   for     posting         on PubMed Central be                              graciously decline.
                         catalogue          and offer every article pro                            responsible,            as is JNM, for checking
                         vided by scientific journals                        and those             for such conflicts? (If so, and if these                                                                         Martin P.Sandier
                         screened but not strictly peer-reviewed,                                  groups are also responsible                       for screen                                                           Editor-in-Chief
                         PubMed Central                    is    also      seen       as    a      ing manuscripts,               are the organizations                      REFERENCES
                         possible         information           source for those                   prepared for the additional administra                                      1. Marshall     E. Varmus circulates        proposal    for NIH-
                         outside        science         and medicine.               How            tive     support         that     such processes                re              backed online venture. Science. 1999:284:718.
                         ever,       the      presence          of     non-peer-re                 quire?) In a similar vein, the lack of a                                    2. The Lancet. NIH E-biomed proposal: a welcome
                         viewed articles prompted                        the Council               true      peer-review            process         carried       out             jolt [editorial].  Lancet. 1999:353:1985.
                                                                                                   within the paper's field of clinical prac                                   3. Greenberg DS. National Institutes of Health moves
                         of Science Editors (a professional orga                                                                                                                   ahead with "PubMed Central." Lancet. I999;354:
                         nization        of scientific           editors,       authors,           tice or research could weaken the requi                                         1009-1012.
                         librarians, and publishing professionals                                  site     evaluation            of    a study's           ethical            4. International     Committee      of Medical Journal Edi
                         aimed at improving communication                                  in      standards.                                                                      tors. Uniform requirements        for manuscripts submit
                                                                                                                                                                                   ted to biomédicaljournals.        JAMA. 1997:227:927-
                         the life sciences) to suggest to Varmus                                        My comments up to this point have                                          934.
                         that if PubMed Central is accessible to                                   dealt with why JNM is not participating                                     5. PubMed Central: an NIH-operated                site  for elec
                         the lay public, an explanation                            of the          in or accepting              manuscripts            posted on                   tronic distribution    of life sciences research reports.
                         peer-review             process         should         also      be       PubMed Central. However, I consider                                             Available     at:  http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/
                                                                                                                                                                                   about/faq.html.    Accessed: May 26. 2000.
                         attached to this section (5). Thus, the                                   it vitally important that we also inform                                    6. Mossman BV. CBE's response to NIH Director's
                         public        must develop               their      analytical            the readers of JNM as to what we are                                            E-Biomed proposal. Available at: http://www.coun-
                         skills      to     superhuman              levels       so that           doing now and intend to implement in                                            cilscienceeditors.org/services_notices.php3.               Ac
                                                                                                                                                                                   cessed: May 26, 2000.
                         they, too, can discern which articles are                                 the future to further the dissemination                                     7. Relman AS. The NIH "E-biomed"                    proposal—a
                         worth their time investigating and which                                  of information.              Currently, we have ar                              potential threat to the evaluation and orderly dissemi
                                                                                                                                                                                   nation of new clinical studies (editoriali.         N Engl J
                         are not.                                                                  ticle abstracts and the table of contents                                       MeJ. 1999:340:1828-1829.
                          1124            THEJOURNALOFNUCLEARMEDICINE•Vol. 41 •No. 7 •July 2000