Instead, it will support the business by charging for value-added services. BioMedCentral was formed by Vitek Tracz, a veteran of the scientific publishing world who also established Current Science, a traditional publisher, and was responsible for BioMedNet, one of the first scientific community web sites. He believes that using the internet can make the publishing process more efficient and flexible, in both format and economic terms. But before internet publishing can truly take off, there have to be systems for authenticating documents on the web. BioMedCentral began accepting submissions from authors last month.
Scientists rely on publishing in respected journals to build reputations and further their careers.
To be successful, Mr Tracz needs to persuade scientists not only that BioMedCentral will publish their work faster, but that it has the cachet and profile of its paper counterparts. Earlier this year, NIH set up PubMedCentral, a database which it wants to become the single repository of all published biomedical research, with free access for all. The vision is to create an online biomedical library, searchable by a single search engine, allowing hyperlinks from an article in one journal to a related article in another, and to relevant public databases, such as that holding the Human Genome Project gene sequence data. BioMedCentral has established a collaboration with the NIH, and all material it publishes will be simultaneously published on Pub MedCentral. By leveraging the NIH's reputation and prestige in this way, Mr Tracz believes he can persuade scientists that publishing on BioMedCentral is a smart career move.