Médecins Sans Frontières makes research accessible to health workers in developing countries through new open-access website
The international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has launched an open-access website on which it makes available published research based on its medical work. The site, www.fieldresearch.msf.org, requires no password or sign-up and full-text articles are available for free. MSF hopes that health professionals, policy makers and researchers, especially those in developing countries, will now have easier access to the results of MSF’s field research.
Although MSF is well known for providing emergency medical assistance, the organisation carries out significant field research based on its work with vulnerable populations. This research has often changed clinical practice and health policy in developing countries.
At its launch, the field research site includes over 400 archived articles on issues including HIV care, malaria, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, refugees and health politics. It also features conference abstracts and a section called ‘Programme Descriptions’ that describes lessons learnt from MSF’s field experience. As new articles are published, they will be archived on the site.
According to Tony Reid, who, along with fellow MSF Medical Editor Sarah Venis, developed the site, “MSF is mostly funded by private donations and does virtually all of its research on health issues in developing countries. We strongly believe that this research, funded by the public, should be made freely available to those who can most appropriately use it. We developed the site because we were concerned that health professionals in developing countries would not be able to pay for access to our medical research and would miss information that could be highly relevant to their work.”
The field research website initiative was made possible through the kind cooperation of over 30 publishers representing 100 journals in which MSF research has been published. These include The Lancet, BMJ, New England Journal of Medicine, PLoS Medicine and Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. MSF sincerely thanks these journals and publishers for their permission to archive these articles, particularly The Lancet and Elsevier as the first major journal and publisher to grant permission to archive their articles, thereby encouraging other publishers to follow suit. All publishers are listed on the site and each article gives appropriate attribution.
Interviews are available with Tony Reid by email at tony.reid@brussels.msf.org or arranged by phone on
0207 0674236.