Sarah Boseley Tuesday July 10, 2001 The Guardian
Six of the world's leading medical publishers pledged yesterday to allow free access to their scientific journals, via the internet, to those in the poorest countries who could not otherwise afford them.
The deal was brokered by the World Health Organisation, whose director general, Gro Harlem Brundtland, said yesterday: "It is perhaps the biggest step taken towards reducing the health information gap between rich and poor countries."
Medical journal subscriptions are prohibitively expensive for doctors in developing countries. Many of the key titles cost $1,500 a year. Until now, the prices have been uniform across the world, regardless of the ability of some countries to pay for them.
The six publishers which own about 50% of medical journals are Elsevier Science, publisher of the Lancet, Blackwell, the Harcourt Worldwide STM Group, Wolters Kluwer International Health & Science, Springer Verlag and John Wiley. The British Medical Journal will also take part.
Derk Haank, chairman of Elsevier Science, said it would cost his company about $1m to set up the free access.