BMJ  2003;327:E259 (4 October), doi:10.1136/bmjusa.01020006 (published 5 September 2002)

BMJ USA: Review

Netlines

Netlines

Leeds, UK DrHarry{at}dial.pipex.com

This article originally appeared in BMJ USA

• General sites that concentrate on a specialty are always going to be popular, and www.generalpediatrics.com is no exception. This has a wide variety of links that are likely to appeal to anyone who is interested in online paediatric material. This page is a straight but well catalogued list of descriptive hypertext links, but the simple, minimalist approach can be quite effective. Helpfully, at the bottom of the page, the latest revision date is given.
  
• One fascinating and useful service that web technology has permitted is free access to the full text of online versions of traditional and well known medical journals. So if you want to know what full text material is free and where to find it, look at www.freemedicaljournals.com. The home page offers good functionality, with the options of viewing journal sites by specialty and by language. It also has a separate listing of journals that are new to the online world. This is an extremely handy site.
  
• If you find journal searching tedious, then a news digest service may be the answer. One such offering is www.mdlinx.com—an umbrella site for other subspecialty sites that generate a daily free email digest for that particular specialty. Several subsites are now active and will appeal to a wide audience, and there are plans for others to be available. The concept is interesting, and the site is certainly worth a visit.
  
• The ideal web site gets straight to the point and makes its purpose clear. www.secondsight.org.uk is one of these. It aims to help eye surgeons in India by sending out specialists to work alongside those there. And, of course, a project like this needs staff, money, and support. This simple, basic, yet effective offering conveys all these messages. I hope this project gets the support it deserves.
  
• The web site of the Health Economics Research Unit in Aberdeen, UK (www.abdn.ac.uk/heru) is a good example of a departmental site that is both useful and interesting. All the usual suspects are there, including lists of staff and publications and a search facility. The home page is easy to navigate, and it does not take long to run through the various offerings. Overall, this is a compact, informative, and helpful site, and its links offer a great introduction to other similar sites.
  

We welcome suggestions for web sites to be included in future Netlines. Readers should contact Harry Brown at the above email address.

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