Entrez Genomes
PubMed Central
PubMed Central Archive Developed at NCBI
PubMed Central is a Web-based repository established at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide barrier-free access to primary research reports in the life sciences. So named because of its natural integration with the existing PubMed retrieval system, PubMed Central will serve as a host for scientific publishers, professional societies, and other groups to archive, organize, and distribute their research articles at no cost to the user.
Content
The scope of PubMed Central includes the broad life sciences, encompassing plant and agricultural research as well as biology and medicine. Participating journals and editorial groups may submit peer-reviewed reports from journals, as well as screened, although not formally peer-reviewed, reports from recognized editorial boards.
Participants' Roles
Contributing publishers, societies, and other editorial groups independent of the NIH have complete responsibility for their input. An international PubMed Central advisory committee establishes criteria for certifying groups that may submit material.
NIH's responsibilities, to be carried out by NCBI, pertain to developing, maintaining, and providing access to the repository. This includes facilitating the submission of SGML-tagged content; developing technology for enhanced retrieval, presentation, and navigation; and archiving the content to guarantee accessibility in the future.
How to Access
PubMed Central began accepting research reports this year and is now accessible on the Web at www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov.
From the home page, select a title to see the table of contents of the most recent issue available. From there, select specific articles or click on the Archive box for back issues. Enhanced search capabilities are currently under development. Links to publishers’ sites are also included.
Two journals, Molecular Biology of the Cell and PNAS: The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences are currently available. Journals currently in process include Biochemical Journal, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Frontiers in Bioscience, and five journals from BioMed Central. Many additional journals have expressed interest and are preparing content for submission.
How to Participate
Guidelines covering acceptance criteria, media formats, copyright, and data formats are available from the PubMed Central home page under the About PubMed Central link.
Organizations interested in depositing content are urged to contact us at pubmedcentral@nih.gov.—MM
