Searching for its palce in the world of science.

Byline: Bobby Pickering

' site review

TheScientificWorld is the online journal platform of LibraPharm, the Berkshire-based specialist publisher of pharmaceutical publications run by Dr Peter Clarke. The company's most well-known title, Current Medical Research & Opinions, sits alongside three other highly specialised journals covering topics in psychiatry, headache care and paediatric drug therapy.

The online operation, thescientificworld.com is organised around a range of web domains covering a matrix of medical and pharmaceutical topics -- from aquatic toxicology and cardiovascular biology to urology and virology. The subscription site is one of the first of the independent smaller publishers to grapple with a hybrid subscription/

author pays model, and has made a name for itself through developing a high-quality, peer-review process that gets articles online quickly.

Drug companies are quite happy to fund a speedy path to publication for research they've funded, and to pay for reprinting studies in English and other languages to aid global dissemination.

TheScientificWorld website is upfront about its publishing models and dynamics -- detailed FAQs explain its editorial policies, author services and user access. Relaunched in February 2006, it has very good navigation and search mechanisms -- for instance, you can quickly find out if any particular academic is on its rosters of editorial contributors. Also, you can get the site to display your IP address and say whether you have an institutional subscription.