Medical journals all over the world are facing a crisis. The crisis was initially foreseen as an impending, rather inevitable death of print journals [1], while the future appeared to be bright for on line journals. Some even dreamt of a worldwide scientific community [2], created by the omni-potent Internet. The oft stressed advantages are many - research findings can be presented to scientific community much faster; it is less expensive and more equitable; researchers in developing countries tend to get benefited, as generally they get only a lesser share of print journal space. It has been taken note of that, while 25 % of all researchers live in developing countries, they publish less than 3% of the total scientific articles published [3]. 

     The electronic journals are of two types- one is a print journal, becoming available in digital form as well while the other is an electronic only journal, which is produced, published and distributed exclusively by means of an electronic medium, usually through web pages. It may not necessarily need a publisher. An editorial board or a scholarly community can manage it with ease. It is exactly the way how this new online journal is being launched by the Calicut Medical College Alumni Association, one of the well established medical alumni associations of India and a multifaceted organization of the erstwhile undergraduate and post graduate medical students who studied in the prestigious medical school of southern Indian state of Kerala. This is also a fitting tribute to the Calicut Medical College, which is all set to celebrate its golden jubilee in 2006. 

     All the following well-established characteristics of medical online journals will form our guidelines in this venture [4] : open access, electronic submission of articles, possibility of analysis of readership, satisfactory quality of reproduction of images, good communication between author and readers, net reviews , commercial independence etc.[4]. We will also endeavour to achieve the added advantages or vistas opened up by electronic publishing, like inclusion of newer formats of presentations like animations and providing hyperlinks to the related sources of information. 

     In the past, when all journals were printed, the survival of a journal heavily depended upon whether the revenue it generated (such as through subscriptions) could cover the editorial, administration, printing and distribution costs. If journals are exclusively online, costs are much lower as there is no printing or posting to pay for. So, journals should increasingly become viable. 

     A reader of an online journal can be specific in accessing just what he needs, thereby avoiding the unwanted search of the whole archives, a laborious and time consuming procedure. Electronic publishing has enabled information exchange between the authors and readers with instant conveying of opinions and feedbacks [5]. The information exchange between the author and readers will be one of our major concerns. Many journals like the legendary British Medical Journal support interactive utilities like " Rapid Responses" to facilitate communication between author and readers and between readers, thus significantly expanding the scope, depth and transparency of the papers. Electronic publishing also leaves us with the advantage of instant and continuous publication of articles, thus significantly increasing the relevance of the paper and avoiding concerns on the out datedness of many papers. The rapid response and feedback utilities eventually can transform a paper into a multi authored and continuously growing piece of information , accumulating more and more information over a period of time and becoming an exhaustive resource. We also take note of the fact that the advantage of universal accessibility by any one, anywhere, had a major impact on some of the regional medical journals, which had remained obscure in yesteryears. We will try to overcome this shortcoming and convert it from a weakness to strength, fully exploiting the potentials of Internet.

     Open access initiatives have come forward propagating the need for open access to all scholarly communications. Budapest Open Access Initiative funded by philanthropist George Soros is the most active among them. By open access, one means the free availability on the public internet, letting it permissible by law to read, copy, download, or use in any other lawful purposes without incurring financial, legal or technical barriers. [6].

BOAI declares in its policy statement :

    " Scholars need the means to launch a new generation of journals committed to open access, and to help existing journals that elect to make the transition to open access. Because journal articles should be disseminated as widely as possible, these new journals will no longer invoke copyright to restrict access to and use of the material they publish. Instead they will use copyright and other tools to ensure permanent open access to all the articles they publish. Because price is a barrier to access, these new journals will not charge subscription or access fees, and will turn to other methods for covering their expenses" . 

    We also believe in this philosophy of open access journals, to which 3000 individuals and 222 institutions have declared their support till date, as one can see in the home page of BOAI. [6].

    However, newer publishing strategies are also being actively discussed in the scholarly communication scenario, where " author paying model" is a suggested one [7]. The merits and demerits of the proposal have been actively debated through the 'rapid responses' to above communication , in BMJ , in early part of the year.[8,9]. It has been pointed out that , charging an author or researcher for publishing his works will be equivalent to discouraging the already low level of contribution from developing countries. Our new online journal venture will address all these issues in appropriate forums and we throw open our gates to all researchers from developing countries of Asia, Africa and South America .We have a lot of valuable information and data to share. 

     Scholars need the means to launch a new generation of journals committed to open access, and to help existing journals that elect to make the transition to open access. Because journal articles should be disseminated as widely as possible, these new journals will no longer invoke copyright to restrict access to and use of the material they publish. Instead, they will use copyright and other tools to ensure permanent open access to all the articles they publish. Because price is a barrier to access, these new journals will not charge subscription or access fees, and will turn to other methods for covering their expenses. BioMedCentral has developed the technology for groups of researchers to start open access journals under their own editorial control. Up to more than 100 journals have already been launched, and there are more forthcoming[10].

    As an online journal, we welcome articles from around the globe. The alumni of Calicut Medical College , where ever they are in the world, have a special role to play in this new journal. While the open access initiatives will do much at creating equity in distribution of scholarly communication, at least in the developing world the existence of small and regional medical journals have been noted to be of some value in maintaining the health of that population, since region specific health information is essential for maintaining the quality of health in each geographical area [10]. We thus intend to play a dual role in our small slot in online journals. 

References :

1. La Porte RE, Marler E, Akazawa s. Sauer F, Gamboa C, Shenton C et.al . The death of biomedical journals. BMJ 1995; 310:1387-90
2. Onganer E, Cinar Y. Online with physcians accessing the internet [letter : comment ]JAMA 1996; 276 : 1218
3. La Porte RE. Internet server with targeted access would cure information deficiency in developing countries . BMJ ; 314: 980 
4. Ibrahim Mansoor. Online electronic medical journals .Journal of the Bahrain Medical Society .July 2002; 14:3 : 96-100
5. Jackobson MN. Biomedical publishing and the internet .J Amer Med Inform Asso 2000 March; 712: 149-151
6. Budapest Open Access Initiative [BOAI] URL : http://soros.org/boai .[Accessed 20th October 2003.]
7. Delamothe T." Author pays"may be the new science publishing model. BMJ 
2003; 326: 182 b 
8. BMJ Rapid Responses on Delamothe T." Author pays"may be the new science publishing model. BMJ 2003; 326: 182 
a] Scaria V .Open access : At what cost ? 
b] Prosser CD. A Unique Opportunity 
BMJ Rapid Responses (11 February 2003) [Available at URL: http://bmj.com/cgi/eletters/326/7382/182/b ]
9. General information about starting a new open access journal.[ http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/authors/newjournals]
10. Scaria V. Scholarly communication in biomedical sciences, Open Access and the
developing world. Internet health 2003; 1:1 [Full text online at: http://www.virtualmed.netfirms.com/internethealth/articleapril03.html ]

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Calicut Medical Journal upholds the policy of Open Access to Scientific literature.