Introducing Bioline
Bioline International is an electronic publishing service, founded in 1993. It is operated by bioscientists and librarians who believe that scientific information can be distributed more widely, more cheaply and with added scientific value using electronic means. Its initial content consisted of online versions of mainstream, printed bioscience journals from the developed world. However, it has increasingly expanded its scope to focus on the distribution of peer-reviewed but less well known journals from developing countries, as well as to explore the potential for online-only journals.
Bioline International is currently working with publishers and editors to promote the provision of journal material on an open-access basis. The website now features more than fifteen journals that are all available in full-text, HTML format, absolutely free. Over upcoming months, Bioline will be working with exisiting and new publishers, hoping to increase the volume of quality scientific material that will be offered free of charge over the Bioline system. In addition to peer reviewed journals, Bioline provides a range of other material of interest to bioscientists (reports, books, technical documents, conference proceedings and newsletters). All material relates to such disciplines as biotechnology, biodiversity, environmental and ecological sciences, food/agriculture/veterinary science, medicine, microbiology and taxonomy. Bioline exploits the full potential of the Internet by linking terms within papers to established public domain databases. Through the links, the documents become interactive gateways to a vast volume of associated scientific data. The system also provides access to useful public domain and shareware software and links to other biological bibliographic resources on the Internet. A Bulletin Board and a News section and email newsletter provide information about new material, system upgrades and other developments to interested users.