Amedeo is challenging physicians to write an OA textbook on tuberculosis. From the Amedeo Challenge:
Free access to medical information is now standard for a variety of services (PubMed, Amedeo, Free Medical Journals). However, publication of top quality medical textbooks with free and anonymous access (i.e., Influenza Report 2006, HIV Medicine 2005) is still in its infancy. [The] Amedeo Challenge aims to change this situation by awarding prizes to physicians who write and publish free medical textbooks. A total of 12,500 Euro has currently been allocated for this purpose....The topics listed below [PS: only tubercuclosis today, but presumably more to come] have been included in the first round of the Amedeo Challenge Awards and we invite medical teams from all over the world to participate in one of the contests. The first three groups to publish a textbook on each of the topics will win 80 %, 16 %, and 4 % of the corresponding award, respectively. For more details, please check the application page.
For more of Amedeo's position on OA medical textbooks, see its philosophy page:
HIV Medicine 2005, a medical textbook freely available over the Internet, will be downloaded more than 50,000 times in a year. At a cost of 52 € per copy, global savings (for those who otherwise would have bought the book) or added value (for those who would not have bought it) will exceed 2,500,000 €. The free Internet publication of Influenza Report 2006 will result in even more important savings and/or added value....Time is ripe. The medical community has begun to realize that it is surprisingly self-sufficient in distributing the information that it produces. A doctor who publishes his own textbooks can earn many times what he would be paid in royalties by a publishing house. In addition, a doctor who writes and publishes wants his texts to be read by as many colleagues, students and patients as possible. The best way to achieve this is through free parallel publication of these texts on the internet....Just imagine, if there were not only textbooks on HIV, influenza and SARS , but also on other subjects, such as hepatitis, immunology, rheumatology, cardiology, antibiotic therapy, tropical medicine. Or - why ever not? - even for every possible medical field (see the list at the end of How to become a sponsor). In an instant, we would have an extensive virtual library with all the relevant information needed for day-to-day use. 100 books, 50,000 pages, free of charge, updated yearly. 99% of the questions which crop up in our daily medical routine would be covered. Would this be a contribution to the improvement of medical care? - Yes, indeed it would.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 2/25/2006 02:15:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
