AOAC has joined with EBSCO and Gale Publishing to provide the Journal of AOAC INTERNATIONAL content online to researchers. As database aggregators, the companies provide journal articles as full text in portable document format (PDF) to nonmembers for a fee. EBSCO and Gale will reach a much larger audience than is possible by restricting access to only AOAC members and other print subscribers.

Having Journal content online allows the scholarly work of authors to be available in a timely manner and a convenient format. Online content also allows AOAC to reach out to potential members who would otherwise not be aware of the Association. Ideally, this exposure may lead to additional print subscribers and increased memberships.

‘Aggregators’ is the term used to define databases of full-text articles, sold as a single product to libraries, rather than as individual print subscriptions. A researcher using a database aggregator, such as EBSCO or Gale, can search the database making use of the aggregators’ abstracting and indexing (A&I) features. The database search results in content that has been defined by the users’ search terms and is not restricted to an individual journal. Researchers can access, and pay for, only the content that they need.

In addition to a new relationship with EBSCO and Gale, AOAC expects to sign with Swets, an international subscription service. Swets will not host content found in the Journal of AOAC INTERNATIONAL, but will act as an online portal, allowing researchers from all over the world to access material on the AOAC Web site as pay-per-view.

Full coverage of J. AOAC Int.’s expanded access via database aggregators, subscription service, and dynamic reference links is scheduled in the July/August issue of Inside Laboratory Management.

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