The World Wide Web provides access to large quantities of health information. Many people use Web-based health information sites to great advantage and enjoy the privacy, convenience and speed of this medium. Nonetheless, some observers have questioned the accuracy and quality of health information on the Web, noting that in many cases material taken from Web sites was incomplete, misleading, biased or factually incorrect. This Web page is intended to suggest some guidelines to help both health professionals and the general public in evaluating the quality of information retrieved from Web sites. The word implies a complex organization, requiring considerable capital investment.
Conventional publishers require their authors to use accepted grammar, punctuation and spelling.
Scientific publishers require that assertions or claims be supported by evidence and by citation from prior literature. Authors must meet these requirements or face the sanction of not having their work published. Many Web publishers work to these exacting standards, but others may not. There is no external quality control apparatus, and no peer review. Web page authors are their own publishers, so they face no sanction of rejection, if they fail to meet someone else's standards.