analysis
This action called for a decision on
whether to accept the NIH plans and par-
ticipate in their system or to establish a
similar European-based system. The latter
option was chosen, using the name E-Bio-
sci for the project, after a series of
meetings organized by the European
Molecular Biology Organization with rep-
resentatives of many European countries,
the European Commission, learned socie-
ties, representatives of the libraries, other
European organizations and the pub-
lishers. A main argument for establishing
a European site was the concern about a
system which, if resoundingly successful,
could lead to a monopoly. For instance
would access to PubMed Central be
denied to scientists in countries regarded
as hostile to the USA? Would unfair com-
mercial advantages accrue to the USA if
they had possession of all information on
the interests of the users? Of course,
similar concerns would pertain to any
monopoly under the control of a Euro-
pean country.
Since the decision to establish E-Biosci,
much has happened away from the public
glare: a governing body has been estab-
lished under the auspices of the European
Molecular Biology Conference; a techni-
cal committee has worked out various
design aspects; the project is looking for a
manager; and contacts have been
reinforced with the content providers (see
http//:www.EMBO.org for an update).
Although E-Biosci will be based in
Europe, it aims to provide a global service
by cooperating with PubMed and
Pubmed Central. But there are some inter-
esting differences between the European
plan and that of the NIH. The European
position is that a site with little content
will be of little service to scientists, so its
supporters hope that the publishers of a
very wide range of journals will provide
full text to E-Biosci. The publishers will be
encouraged to make access to the mater-
ial available without cost, and there are
indications that this will increasingly be
the case. In the interim, and on the basis
of decisions that will be made by each
journal individually, the user may have to
pay to access the full text of selected
articles.
nected sites rather than a centralized
server like the one at NIH. The complex-
ity of this system is, of course, obvious but
it may ultimately increase the speed of
connection, provide backup systems, and
allow entry enquiries in different lan-
guage formats. This would also reflect the
manner in which Europe most frequently
works. But as the most important goal will
be to deliver E-Biosci as soon as possible,
some of these steps may have to be taken
in a phased manner. The current time-
table envisages a launch of a biblio-
graphic and abstract service at the end of
2
000, and a move towards full-text
searches in 2001.
In contrast to PubMed Central Express,
a site related to and run by PubMed Cen-
tral, E-Biosci does not plan to have non-
refereed content although it will monitor
developments in this area carefully over
time. E-Biosci will also act as a host to
those societies or companies that wish to
provide serious reviewing and editing
services. PubMed Central has announced
the same aim, but it appears that PubMed
Central and the commercially driven
Biomed Central view each other as their
favoured partners. This impression comes
from the pre-announcement of Biomed
Central on the PubMed Central site, and
the fusion of the terms PubMed Central
and E-Biomed into Biomed Central. If this
reading of events is accurate, then it is
ironic that a major justification for the
establishment of PubMed Central was to
combat the excessive profit-making activ-
ities of some publishers.
But simply putting papers on the inter-
net certainly does not use the full potential
of this medium. E-Biosci will establish a
complete information service for its users
including databases and other media. An
interconnected triangle of online material
like journals, databases, and other items
such as videos, 3D images or sound will
be a major resource used by scientists in
the future (Figure 1). Access to the data
will come from any point of the triangle
but will require links to related informa-
tion. We will not be limited to, or thinking
of, reading an article or a related reference
in a journal. For example, our work may
yield a new sequence, which will benefit
from the DNA and protein databases to
define its potential role. The published
papers will greatly expand on our under-
standing of the gene or its product and we
Fig. 1. Schematic of future online resources and
their accessibility for scientists.
may be able to obtain a video image of it
in action.
In the future, scientists will start their
day by logging into one of these sites and
asking what is new in their favourite area
of research, tapping not only into publica-
tions but also numerous databases. This
will have consequences beyond simply
keeping us better informed. Small special-
ist journals that are essentially unread
today will become more visible. Referee-
ing mechanisms will have to be re-exam-
ined. Archiving of the combinatorial, per-
sonalized collection of the material a sci-
entist reads will require new solutions.
Basically, it also means that scientists and
publishers will have to adapt to this new
medium and the presentation of data.
Much will indeed change, but proven
systems will of course remain. It has been
pointed out that TV did not kill the radio,
nor did the pencil die with the arrival of
the ball-point pen. Journals in print form
will continue to exist. But the option to
use the full range of electronic communi-
cation will enrich our possibilities to
allow a more efficient dissemination of
data—the core reason for our daily efforts
in the laboratory.
Frank Gannon
The author is the Executive Director of the
European Molecular Biology Organization.
E-mail: embo@embl-heidelberg.de
Another important difference is that E-
Biosci will extensively use the skills and
content that various groups in Europe
have already developed. The European
service will therefore be a network of con-
DOI: 10.1093/embo-reports/kvd019
10 EMBO Reports vol. 1 | no. 1 | 2000
© 2000 European Molecular Biology Organization