Accessing Full Text of Articles: A Study on the Status of Medical Universities in Tehran

Introduction. Due to the rapid development of information technology and world wide web, there is easy and fast access to medical information and medical journals. Although there is free and easy access to articles' abstracts through Medline on the internet, accessing full text articles still remains a problem. This study was carried out to investigate the best way we could access full text of medical articles. Methods. In a descriptive study, the list of medical journals at three medical universities in Tehran was checked. Then, data was collected from free journal websites and document delivery services and the results were compared. Results. Iran University of Medical Sciences had a rich source with 3000 titles of medical journals and this number was 1300 and 1000 for Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, respectively. Conclusion. Regarding the results of this study, it is recommended to rely on our rich, easy to access and cost-effective resources and databases in the medical libraries rather than to subscribe expensive on-line journals. To achieve this, we need to establish a national inter-library loan system around the country.