Free ebooks

[quackdoc]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Does anyone know about peer reviewed ebooks?Suppose Harrisons online has to grant access it really costs a bomb.CMDT to has made all its publications paid.I feel that the ones from developing countries and those places where institutional access is not possible are left out.
Further there has been a free access debate going on now.Free access for the journals so that they really benefit the people looking for information.Its unfortunate that vast amounts of public money that goes in research and the benefits of the same are not accrued to the public that wants to access the information of the same.
Most of the ebooks that I have come across are very elementary in presentation.Further since they are not peer reviewed this defeats the whole purpose of the ebook per se.
I know this idea is controversial.But still we need to have an debate on the same.Yes if anyone knows of the same please post the links here.
Thanks

 

[mpp]

Don't know about books, but there are some very good journals in which most of the content is free; Mayo Clinic Proceedings is one. For relevant clinical information, I like to use www.emedicine.com which is peer-reviewed and free except for the pictures.

 

[ckent]

I also think that it's ridiculous that academic journals can charge so much when they get all of their articles for free. All they have to do is print the damn thing up, which I'm sure that their advertising pays for. I suspect that there are either some really over-paid editors and reviewers involved in making these journals, or someone is making a lot of money somewhere along the line. They charge a hefty fee for an individual subscription which is way over-priced even when you take into account shipping. The thing that really makes me upset is their fee for electonic access to their journals. It costs next to nothing to post their stuff on the web, I'm certain that any university would be happy to offer them server space if they could get the articles for free. Here is a link to the merck manual too:
http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/sections.jsp
If you want to, you can also sign up to get news letters from most of the journals so you can at least know what their research abstract is about for free.

 

[quackdoc]

the debate for free access goes on.i have come across the debate for free access here on this link.intrested forum members please note:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2102/stories/20040130000807900.htm
in case the link doesnt work
www.hinduonline.com
then click on the magazine section frontline
then once the magazine is displayed the relevant link is highlighted:the public access debate
This of course is a contentious issue.I wish that more members had responded to that since it affects the whole of the student community directly or indirectly.
one good reference for medical students that i came across was www.studentbmj.com.known for the clarity of the articles and the direct approach this makes an intresting reading.
please highlight any intresting web sites that you may come across.