Getting our journals to developing countries

For some years now it has been our policy to give free subscriptions to our journals to applicants from countries in the developing world. However, in practice this has had its difficulties. Many developing countries have either poor or non-existent postal services and granting a print subscription can often be problematic and expensive—the marginal cost of sending the British Journal of Ophthalmology to Africa is around £25 each year.

An editorial in BMJ sets out the arguments very clearly.1 We know that the gap between the rich and poor countries is widening. While those of us in the developed world have information overload, the developing countries have bare library shelves. The internet gives us the opportunity to narrow the gap.

The marginal cost of giving access …