Take a look at www.jpedhc.org!

Article Outline

• Reference
• Copyright

For health care providers, the benefits of the Internet are obvious—it can be a source of clinical research findings and guidelines, information exchange with colleagues, and even communication with patients and families.

For about the past 15 years, the Internet has provided us with access to vast amounts of information via the Web through e-mail, newsletters, listservs, blogs, and now electronic scholarly publications and e-journals. For health care providers, the benefits of the Internet are obvious—it can be a source of clinical research findings and guidelines, information exchange with colleagues, and even communication with patients and families. While accessing this medium, however, it also is easy to see that much information on the Web is incomplete, misleading, or inaccurate. Therefore, it has been particularly important to clinicians and academicians that basic quality standards of accountability and scholarship be applied in the electronic context and provide a basis for the effective use of technology.

Silber, Lundberg, and Musacchio (1997) early on proposed a set of core standards to be applied when evaluating the content, relevance, and utility of information available on the Internet. These standards include: careful attention to authorship (authors' relevant credentials and affiliations should be provided), attribution (content references and relevant copyright information should be noted clearly), objectivity, verifiability, disclosure (Web site “ownership” should be fully evident), and currency (dates should be indicated clearly).

When publishing the contents of a journal on a Web site, the aforementioned criteria certainly apply. In addition, the Web interface must be created with the user in mind. Readers who access journal articles online generally find that electronic searches and downloads of articles are more efficient and effective than those conducted using print formats. Moreover, a journal's Web site often has features that are not available within the print version.

Most of our readers are aware that we have had a really good Web site for some time (www.jpedhc.org). However, among those of us who receive the Journal six times a year in our mailboxes, I wonder how many of us fully avail ourselves of the many added features found at the Journal's Web site. Moreover, in recent months, we have made significant upgrades to the site with all of the above criteria in mind. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to reintroduce you to some of the newer features of the Journal's Web site and give you some specific directions regarding how NAPNAP members and subscribers can claim full access to the site.

Thanks to our Web support team at Elsevier, the JPHC Web site has numerous features that I encourage you to utilize. The site highlights the cover articles of the current issue, with easy-to-use links providing quick access to the abstract and full text in HTML or PDF formats. The site has enhanced search capabilities of all issues of the Journal, as well as the MEDLINE database. The site also includes key links to manuscript submission procedures, NAPNAP resources, and continuing education offerings that are offered online at no charge. The latest update is that articles that are in press now appear on our Web site prior to publication in the print journal and can be cited as such.

Just to be clear: subscribers who activate their online access will still continue to receive print copies of the Journal.

While the Web site offers several options for the activation process, we think the following option is the simplest:

Going forward, we are continuing to develop new ideas and features to enhance the Web site and address the needs and wishes of our readers. We look forward to your feedback and suggestions. See you on the Web!

Back to Article Outline

Reference 

1. Silber W, Lundberg G, Musacchio R. Assessing, controlling and assuring the quality of medical information on the Internet. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1997;277:1244–1245
   • View In Article
   • MEDLINE