PMC Canada puts latest Canadian health research at fingertips of researchers

The flow of information and ideas amongst researchers is a fundamental element in turning knowledge into discoveries that will address the health challenges of tomorrow. Thanks to the newly launched PubMed Central Canada (PMC Canada), Canadian researchers can now contribute to a growing, searchable digital archive of published Canadian health research.

PMC Canada is the result of a partnership between the National Research Council's Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (NRC-CISTI), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the US National Library of Medicine (NLM). With the launch of PMC Canada, Canadians have a freely accessible national digital repository of the latest peer-reviewed health and life sciences literature at their fingertips, including research resulting from CIHR funding.

"The global movement to provide barrier-free access to research is gaining strength and with good reason," says Dr. Ian Graham, Vice-President of Knowledge Translation at CIHR. "PMC Canada promotes the sharing of knowledge and will increase the visibility of CIHR-funded research so that it has the greatest possible value and impact."

PMC Canada supports CIHR's Policy on Access to Research Outputs, which requires CIHR grant recipients to make their peer-reviewed publications freely accessible online within six months of publication. PMC Canada's manuscript submission system will enable CIHR-funded researchers to deposit their peer-reviewed articles, exposing their research to a global audience and facilitating collaboration to advance scientific progress.

PMC Canada builds on PubMed Central (PMC), the archive developed by the US National Library of Medicine, and joins UK PubMed Central (UKPMC) as a member of the larger PMC International network. PMC Canada will connect researchers to this international network, making much of PMC and UKPMC content accessible to them.

"PMC Canada is a new and exciting chapter in the long history of productive cooperation between NLM and Canadian institutions to improve worldwide access to life sciences literature and scientific data," says NLM Director Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D. "The addition of Canada as a PMCI member should both aid the progress of science and also improve public access to the results of research that affects health and health care."

CIHR supplied the funds for PMC Canada and NRC-CISTI contributed its technological expertise to build the infrastructure and will manage the repository.

"PMC Canada is an important part of Canada's research infrastructure," says NRC-CISTI Director General Pam Bjornson. "Having desktop access to a searchable, permanent and freely accessible archive of Canadian health research will serve as a valuable resource for researchers, enabling them to translate that knowledge into solutions to important health issues."

This first phase of PMC Canada includes a basic bilingual interface, a manuscript submission system for CIHR researchers and a bilingual help desk. Plans for the second phase of the repository will incorporate a customized web front-end along with enhanced reporting and alerting features for system funders and users. An advisory committee of Canadian health researchers and other stakeholders will guide PMC Canada's future development.