Dear Neil and HIFA colleagues,
It has been a very interesting thematic discussion on Open-Access (OA) with your response from ChatGPT.
This got me interested in doing a quick PubMed search.
Interestingly, I couldn’t find any OA research that directly saved a life; however, we should think of the numerous benefits of OA research in the context of public health, which saves many lives with the development of health policies and their implementation through national health plans and impacts lives, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
While there are predatory OA medical journals with very high article processing charges (APC) and improper review methodology, but several OA medical journals (e.g. Lancet, BMJ, PLOS, BMC, Creative Commons licences, etc.) maintain very high standards before acceptance for publication with different APC structures.
These OA medical journals benefit the lives of populations, particularly in LMICs, to enable:
- Health providers to access and reproduce research in the local context.
- In academia, medical trainees can publish their research most often at a faster rate.
- Easy access and more frequent citations in scientific papers
- Allow health providers to implement evidence-based clinical guidance at the point of care.
- Global collaborative projects with interdisciplinary proposals for research and funding.
- The public can access and engage in discussions with their health providers on the updated medical progress, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
- All people to ‘the right to access evidence-based medical knowledge’, not only for themselves but also to engage with policymakers for equity in health. (HIFA global campaign).
Best wishes
Dr Meena Nathan Cherian, MBBS, MD (Anaesthesia)
(Former WHO Lead Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Program, Geneva, Switzerland).
Director, Global Health New Challenges:online courses, Geneva Foundation for Medical Education & Research (GFMER), Switzerland. www.gfmer.ch/surgery/cancer.htm
Senior Advisor, Global Action, International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG). Permanent Committees - SIOG
Adjunct Prof.The Chinese University of Hong Kong,Shenzhen,China. https://med.cuhk.edu.cn/en/teacher/371
WHO-HIFA Working Group on Essential Health Services,COVID-19,Learning for Quality Health Services; mHEALTH-INNOVATE. www.hifa.org
Geneva, Switzerland. +41 763837253(m); cherianm15@gmail.com
HIFA profile: Dr Meena Nathan Cherian was a professor of anaesthesiology from Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, India. She trained, worked, and taught in several countries, USA (Johns Hopkins Hospital), Southeast Asia and Africa. She worked at the World Health Organization Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland, as the Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Program Lead where she created the ‘surgical care’ program resulting in the first World Health Assembly Resolution on ‘Emergency and Essential Surgical Care and Anaesthesia in the context of Universal Health Coverage’. Currently she works as the Director, Global Health New Challenges program, Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research, Geneva, Switzerland; Adjunct Prof. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China; Senior Advisor, Global Action, International Society of Geriatric Oncology, Switzerland; she is a member of the HIFA Steering Group; HIFA Partnerships and Projects Working Group; and HIFA mHEALTH-INNOVATE Working Group. https://www.hifa.org/support/members/meena-nathan cherianm15 AT gmail.com