[BOAI] UK PubMed Central - British Library Launches New Beta Website

[Peter Suber]

[Forwarding from the British Library.  --Peter Suber.]


 PRESS RELEASE
12 January 2010

* *

*Innovative new web interface improves access to UK’s largest free online
life sciences resource - **http://beta.ukpmc.ac.uk/***

* *

*Helping researchers access and exploit over 1.7 million full-text, peer
reviewed biomedical research articles and over 19 million other life science
research papers, on 12 January the British Library will showcase a whole
range of new search and data mining tools designed to unlock the scientific
knowledge held by UK PubMed Central.

*Developed in direct consultation with researchers, UK PubMed Central
(UKPMC) aims to become the information resource of choice for the UK
biomedical and health research community.  Launched by *Professor Dame Sally
C Davies*, Director General, Research and Development at the Department of
Health, the Open Beta version of UKPMC will enable researchers to search and
link information from literature and drill down into underlying datasets in
new and innovative ways.**



Supported by the UK’s eight principal funders of biomedical and health
research, who fund over 90% of the country’s research publications in the
field, UKPMC offers users a comprehensive and sustainable repository for UK
funded free-to-access life sciences research. Developed in collaboration
with the founders of PubMed Central in the US, the National Centre for
Biotechnology Information (NCBI), the consolidation of published research
outputs into globally accessible resources such as UKPMC is not only vital
for widening access to knowledge and improving the efficiency of desk
research, but it will also vastly improve the ability of funding
organisations to assess the impact of their research, and help to better
inform scientific strategy and policy making.



The showcase event will provide the chance to try out some of the new
features that have been developed by the British Library and the consortium
of programme partners including European Bioinformatics Institute, Mimas at
the University of Manchester and the National Centre for Text Mining.  There
will also be the opportunity to hear from some of the key funders behind the
programme, including *Professor Doug Kell, *Chief Executive of the
Biotechnology
and Biological Sciences Research Council, and *Sir Mark Walport*, Director
of the Wellcome Trust, on the value and importance of UKPMC for the research
community.



The easy-to-use, intuitive interface developed by the British Library for
the latest Beta version will enable researchers to:



   - Conduct a full-text search of 1.7 million articles
   - Access abstracts for over 19 million articles
   - Exploit the scientific literature with innovative features which enrich
   abstracts and full-text articles by linking scientific terms to other
   sources of quality assured and useful information

·        Search content not included in traditional journal literature –
including clinical guidelines as well as other hard to find material such as
PhD theses

*Professor Dame Sally C Davies – Director General Research and Development
Department of Health, said: *



*“I am delighted that UK PubMed Central is ready to launch new features on
its website. This technology will make it possible to discover and use
hidden ‘gems’ of information buried in the documents within UK PubMed
Central. The Funders’ commitment to Open Access, and to making research
outputs available through UK PubMed Central, means this advance will
increase the knowledge base and allow research to realise even greater
health and economic benefits for this country.”***

*
Richard Boulderstone, the British Library’s Director of eStrategy, said: *

*“With over 1.7 million full-text, free-to-access biomedical research
articles and an ever increasing archive of additional research content, such
as PhD theses and clinical guidelines, UK PubMed Central is fast becoming
the information resource of choice for the UK’s biomedical and health
research community. Developed by the British Library through open
consultation with a wide range of researchers, the new data mining tools
will allow users to really interrogate the collection; informing research,
reducing duplication of work, and inspiring new scientific discovery.”  *

*For more information and interviews please contact the British Library
Press Office - Jacob Lant jacob.lant at bl.uk / +44(0)20 7412 7105 or Miki
Lentin miki.lentin at bl.uk / +44(0)20 7412 7112***
* ---------- * *Notes for Editors*

*1. UK PubMed Central* (http://ukpmc.ac.uk/) is a UK initiative of PubMed
Central, the free archive of life sciences journals developed by the
National Institutes of Health National Centre for Biotechnology Information
(NCBI). NCBI is based at the National Library of Medicine in the United
States. Read more on PubMed Central’s international initiative here:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/about/pmci.html

*2. UK PubMed Central mission* is to become the information resource of
choice for the UK biomedical and health research community by:

·         Establishing and expanding a single sustainable repository for
UK-funded research outputs

·         Developing innovative tools to enable better and more effective
use of the existing content

·         Providing access to additional content that integrates seamlessly
into the UK PubMed Central web-site

·         Creating comprehensive analysis and reporting tools for
researchers and funders to inform strategy and policy making

*3. UK PubMed Central is supported with funding from: *

·         *The Arthritis Research Campaign *is the leading authority on
arthritis in the UK, conducting scientific and medical research into all
types of arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions. It is the UK’s fourth
largest medical research charity and the only charity solely committed to
funding high quality research into the cause, treatment and cure of
arthritis, which affects more than ten million people in the UK today and
millions more worldwide.  We rely entirely on public donations to fund our
research and education programmes, and spend more than £30m a year in
universities and medical schools to support pioneering biomedical research
in order to improve the lives of people with arthritis.**

·         *The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research
Council*(BBSRC) is the UK funding agency for research in the life
sciences.
Sponsored by Government, BBSRC annually invests around £450M in a wide range
of research that makes a significant contribution to the quality of life for
UK citizens and supports a number of important industrial stakeholders
including the agriculture, food, chemical, healthcare and pharmaceutical
sectors. BBSRC carries out its mission by funding internationally
competitive research, providing training in the biosciences, fostering
opportunities for knowledge transfer and innovation and promoting
interaction with the public and other stakeholders on issues of scientific
interest in universities, centres and institutes.**

·         *British Heart Foundation *is the nation’s heart charity,
dedicated to saving lives through pioneering research, patient care,
campaigning for change and by providing vital information. But we urgently
need help. We rely on donations of time and money to continue our
life-saving work. Because together we can beat heart disease.**

·         *Cancer Research UK *is the world’s leading charity dedicated to
beating cancer through research.  The charity’s groundbreaking work into the
prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of
lives.  This work is funded entirely by the public.  Cancer Research UK has
been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival rates
double in the last thirty years.  Cancer Research UK supports research into
all aspects of cancer through the work of more than 4,800 scientists,
doctors and nurses.  Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer
Research UK's vision is to beat cancer.

·         *Chief Scientist Office *is part of the Scottish Government Health
Directorates, which supports and promotes high quality research aimed at
improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of services offered by NHS
Scotland and securing lasting improvements to the health of the people of
Scotland. CSO supports research initiated by the research community in
Scotland and advises the Scottish Government on how research contributes to
improvements in health and healthcare. CSO's research strategy "Investing in
Research: Improving Health" sets out our aims for the next 5 years and
features changes to give greater emphasis to funding experimental and
translational medicine research and health services and health population
research. CSO also aims to deliver value for money through partnerships with
other funding agencies and to foster Scotland-wide working through the
Scottish Academic health Services Collaboration.**

·         *Department of Health - *Through the National Institute for Health
Research, the Department of Health supports research in the NHS in England,
with a budget of around £900m in 2009/10. The development of the NIHR
includes a series of measures designed to transform the health research
environment. See www.nihr.ac.uk. The NIHR’s mission is to create a health
research system in which the NHS supports outstanding individuals working in
world-class facilities, conducting leading-edge research, focused on the
needs of patients and the public. *

*

·         *Medical Research Council* For almost 100 years the Medical
Research Council has improved the health of people in the UK and around the
world by supporting the highest quality science. The MRC invests in
world-class scientists. It has produced 29 Nobel Prize winners and sustains
a flourishing environment for internationally recognised research. The MRC
focuses on making an impact and provides the financial muscle and scientific
expertise behind medical breakthroughs, including the first antibiotic
penicillin, the structure of DNA and the lethal link between smoking and
cancer. Today MRC funded scientists tackle research into the major health
challenges of the 21st century. www.mrc.ac.uk

·         *The Wellcome Trust* is the largest charity in the UK. It funds
innovative biomedical research, in the UK and internationally, spending over
£600 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best
ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research
and its impact on health and wellbeing. http://www.wellcome.ac.uk **



*4. The development partners for UK PubMed Central are:*
The British Library, Mimas and NaCTeM (National Centre for Text Mining) at
the University of Manchester, the European Bioinformatics Institute.

*5. The British Library* is the national library of the United Kingdom and
one of the world's greatest research libraries. It provides world class
information services to the academic, business, research and scientific
communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most
comprehensive research collection. The Library's collection has developed
over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age
of written civilisation. It includes: books, journals, manuscripts, maps,
stamps, music, patents, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and
spoken languages *www.bl.uk/science*
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