Internet for all? Follow

The College's online journals, which include the British Journal of Psychiatry, the Psychiatric Bulletin and Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, are to become free to access, on a country by country basis, in developing countries. This will allow many of the poorest countries in the world to access vital scientific information free of charge on the internet. In a separate initiative, substantial discounts on subscription rates are being offered to institutions in these developing countries not on the free list, as part of the Electronic Information for Libraries project organised by the Soros Foundation. These are welcome developments. The College's actions parallel those of other leading medical publishers who have agreed to participate in a similar scheme run by the World Health Organization (WHO). When the Statement of Intent was signed in July 2001, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of WHO (www.who.int/inf-pr-2001 ) said: "As a direct consequence of this arrangement, many thousands of doctors, researchers and policy-makers among others will be able to see the best available scientific evidence to an unprecedented degree to help them improve the health of their populations. It is perhaps the biggest step ever taken towards reducing the health information gap between rich and poor countries." This statement is as true for psychiatry as it is for other medical disciplines.