Rabia (Tanzania) asks: Could open access platforms collaborate more with those developing guidelines, job aids, and community health materials, so that synthesized evidence flows more efficiently to end users?
https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/open-access-25-removing-barriers-betwee...
My response comes from the perspective of someone who believes that the availability of reliablee healthcare information is dependent on the integrity of the global evidence ecosystem, and that promoting better communication among all stakeholders in the system is extremely important. This is the central rationale for HIFA as described here: https://www.hifa.org/about-hifa
There is always room for more collaboration across the system. The term 'open access platform' is very wide, but it is a truism to say that any content platform needs to understand and address the needs of its users (researchers, indexers, reviewers, end-user content producers, library and information professionals, health professionals, policymakers, patients...) and therefore to communicate/collaborate more.
All stakeholders in the system could potentially need access to the full text of a research paper. However, in terms of ecosystem integrity, and from a perspective that is strongly supportive of evidence synthesis and rigorous guideline development, I would put systematic reviewers and guideline developers as the key users of the full text of research papers, as implied by the Synthesis component of the global evidence ecosystem graphic on the HIFA website.
It would be great to hear the views of HIFA members who develop guidelines, job aids and community health materials. To what extent do you use open access research papers in your work?
Many thanks, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org