Deal allows developing countries free access to journals

Six of the world's leading medical publishers have joined forces in a unique venture in which they have put profits aside to enable more than 100 of the poorest countries in the world to access vital scientific information free of charge through the internet.

The BMJ's editor, Dr Richard Smith, described the arrangement, which is scheduled to start in January 2002, as “momentous” and one that will “completely transform the environment” in which health professionals, researchers, and policymakers in the developing world work.

Overseeing the signing of the …