The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and its specialty Archives journals have launched a new web platform called the JAMA Network. The platform reportedly makes it easier and faster for readers to navigate content from all 10 publications at once.
Instead of each existing within its own virtual silo, the JAMA Network integrates the journals online. It features a new search engine that allows readers to hunt for related content across all the publications, rather than having to search each journal’s website individually.
The launch of the network is the latest of several changes that ultimately will include a complete redesign of the journals and renaming of the nine specialty journals. Starting in January 2013, the Archives journals will have the JAMA name integrated into their titles. For instance, Archives of Ophthalmology will become JAMA Ophthalmology, and Archives of Surgery will become JAMA Surgery. The aim is to ensure that readers know the journals are part of the JAMA family.
The changes are designed to make the journals more user-friendly and accessible to a generation of readers who increasingly access content on the go on smartphones or tablet computers.
The search engine, which is accessible on each of the journal’s websites and on the main website for the JAMA Network, will give readers more accurate search results. It uses semantic technology that recognises concepts rather than just words. The launch of the new web platform coincides with the release of JAMA’s global health theme issue.
Within a few weeks, the JAMA Network will roll out a new mobile app that will automatically detect what type of device a reader is using and optimise the content accordingly. The app comes in response to the growing demand for mobile access for the journals. The JAMA Network app will be available free to all users for six months, after which it will be accessible only to subscribers, to AMA members or on a pay-per-article basis.
