Access of primary and secondary literature by health personnel in an academic health center: implications for open access

摘要

Purpose: The research sought to ascertain the typesand quantity of research evidence accessed by healthpersonnel through PubMed and UpToDate in auniversity medical center over the course of a year inorder to better estimate the impact that increasinglevels of open access to biomedical research can beexpected to have on clinical practice in the yearsahead.Methods: Web log data were gathered from the 5,042health personnel working in the Stanford UniversityHospitals (SUH) during 2011. Data were analyzed foraccess to the primary literature (abstracts and full-text) through PubMed and UpToDate and to thesecondary literature, represented by UpToDate(research summaries), to establish the frequency andnature of literature consulted.Results: In 2011, SUH health personnel accessed81,851 primary literature articles and visitedUpToDate 110,336 times. Almost a third of the articles(24,529) accessed were reviews. Twenty percent(16,187) of the articles viewed were published in 2011.Conclusion: When it is available, health personnel ina clinical care setting frequently access the primaryliterature. While further studies are needed, thispreliminary finding speaks to the value of theNational Institutes of Health public access policy andthe need for medical librarians and educators toprepare health personnel for increasing public accessto medical research