The New England Journal of Medicine has redesigned and rebuilt NEJM.org to take better advantage of the current technology. Each week, half a million readers reportedly access the Journal electronically. According to an editorial published on July 24, the journal's content is now seen online by about four times as many people as those who see the print edition. This mode of information delivery has expanded tremendously since the Journal first went online in 1996.
Not so long ago, electronic publishing was viewed as secondary to print publication, basically as a convenient way to deliver the print version of an article. Today, the electronic presentation of scientific articles has become the version of record, with print becoming only one part of the complete publication, which may include video, audio, and interactive content, as well as polls, user comments, updated versions, corrections, and supplemental content, including additional text, tables, figures, and even original data and study protocols. Hence, the design and function of NEJM.org have become central to the Journal's future.
The last major Web redesign for journal took place in 2001. The redesigned and rebuilt NEJM.org now includes improved navigation and organisation to make it faster and easier for readers to find the essential information that they want. There is better integration of content, such as linking of a research report with its editorial. Within an article, tabs allow the user to move easily from abstract to full text to references. Figures and tables are easy to enlarge and read.
The new site also has pages with content organised according to major specialty and medical subspecialty. Users will find it easier to locate multimedia offerings, including video, audio, and interactive features. The new search function uses the initial input to suggest commonly used terms. The articles that are found by the search can be previewed without leaving the list of results. The search capabilities have been improved with convenient options for filtering and refining results.
Additionally, the continuing medical education (CME) system has been made more efficient. It is now easy to find CME tests on topics within a specialty. In the section called My NEJM, users will find new options for tracking CME credits, saving articles, managing a personal account, and setting preferences, such as those for e-mail alerts.
The Journal's electronic archive now includes every issue back to the first one, published in 1812. The NEJM Archive from 1812 to 1989 has more than 150,000 articles. All articles are fully searchable, with the content back to 1945 presented in an HTML format similar to that for the current issues. For all the articles in the archive, the PDF files show the original versions as they appeared in print, complete with ads, notices, and various curiosities from earlier eras.
Search for more medical journals online
Get customisable STM news alerts in your Mobile. Visit http://www.scopeknowledge.com/scoope.jar via your mobile browser to download the SCOOPE application
