Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2006 15:13:05 +0530 From: AGouri@wockhardtin.com Open Access and Self Archiving - A Boon in disguise Dear All, I have joined this group recently and it is my pleasure to join a group of like-minded people working towards the betterment of the Information Society. I work in the Medical Information department of Wockhardt, Ltd in Mumbai. We are a small team of two at the corporate office, Dr Rucha - Senior Manager, Medical Information and myself - Ms Anahita Gouri, Executive, Medical Information. We are a support function for the clinical research, medico marketing, regulatory, strategic planning and international marketing divisions. We ourselves are very interested in the concept of knowledge management and in our efforts towards improvising the current situation have merged with our in-house IT team to develop a database with the help of Lotus Notes. We strongly believe that "In today's environment, hoarding knowledge ultimately erodes your power. If you know something very important, the way to get power is by actually sharing It." - by Joseph Badaracco. Recently I attended the Biomedical Information Retrieval Training at National Informatics Centre - New Delhi, where we were exposed to the concept of Open Access and Self Archival. I must confess, the very first thought that came to my mind was " Yes - This is it". This is where I could submit my research work and share it with people working in the same research area. I wish something like this would have developed earlier when I was working on my project, it would be so much easier to know about Indian data and research work done in my area. Not only does the Open Access initiative at NIC fulfill the desire to share scientific work done by an individual but also fulfills the desire to build a quality virtual asset for ourselves and the generations to come. Earlier, it was extremely disheartening to realize that good conferences and universities in India still do not have any virtual presence or existence. The thesis submitted to these universities and presentations and posters delivered to national level conferences have no virtual archival systems and eventually the work done by students is forgotten. Open Access initiative at the NIC is reviving our dreams of seeing our work being cited and referred too by individuals world over. This helps us slowly build a global presence for ourselves. I personally feel, in some way it contributes to the improvement in research work been done and reduces redundancy of the same work being done again and again. I request all students and other researchers to use the OpenMed at NIC to the fullest and be grateful and proud of the initiative taken by National Informatics Centre. Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision-making, it is a burden, not a benefit. The future is moving so quickly that we can’t anticipate it. People at NIC have done the right thing by putting tremendous emphasis on quick response and being sensitive to the requirement of the Indian research / student society. I am extremely grateful to them for the same. Looking forward to sharing and learning through dynamic exchange of thoughts and ideas that this group is known for. Ms Anahita Gouri Executive - Medical Information Wockhardt Ltd