Structural variations in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Research4Life—Hinari, Agora, and Oare—is a cornerstone in Elsevier’s goal of achieving universal access to scientifi c, technical, and medical research information. We were among the founders of the initiative, and we are the largest contributor of journals to the programme. We have continually added more journals and now more books to the programme. Achieving our goal of universal access to high-quality information in a sustainable way will require a number of diff erent models for getting information to those who need it, both commercial and philanthropic. Free and low-cost access in countries that cannot aff ord to purchase journals and books will continue to be a central element of that eff ort. In some countries this will be provided through philanthropic programmes. In other countries it will be through highly discounted commercial agreements for access, because these can off er greater fl exibility in terms of content and services provided. The right options will vary from country to country and between institutions within a country, depending on their particular circumstances. Full access has the additional advantage of off ering more content than is avail able to Research4Life, greater fl exibility in choosing content, and more service and more support for institutions that are rapidly develop ing their research capacity; some countries and institutions may prefer to have these options as they develop their research programmes. During the past 2 years, Elsevier has been working closely and collaboratively with the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh, all the key universities, and the World Bank to establish a proposed consortium agreement, recognising that Bangla desh might well be a country that could move from access under Research4Life to access under a discounted commercial agreement. The culmination of this eff ort is a commitment to move to a free access trial of Elsevier’s SciVerse ScienceDirect in 2011, with the aim to become a consortium agreement in 2012 at the latest. Unfortunately, there were technical delays in Bangladesh and access under Research4Life was terminated before the free access trial began. This was not well communicated to all Research4Life users and we are correcting our mistake. Access in Bangladesh under Research4Life is now restored so we can accomplish the transition without disrupting access. Research4Life is not our only access programme in Bangladesh. Some institutions in Bangladesh have ongoing access through our agreement with the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam. However, the temporary disruption of access in Bangladesh highlighted the potential that, in the course of our planned transition, some deserving institutions in the country may not be covered under the planned consortium agreement. We are therefore reviewing our transition plan in an eff ort to avoid creating new access gaps in our transition to a more sustainable model. As with Bangladesh, in the future other countries will be able to transition from Research4Life to commercial agreements that are responsive to the needs of the country, aff ordable, and off er even more value for the research community. However, we will not implement any new exclusions until we can be sure that they can be accomplished without signifi cant disruption to research. In 2010 alone, there were 3·1 million downloads from SciVerse ScienceDirect from Research4Life by developing world researchers—a 20% increase over the previous year. As a refl ection of our commitment to its continued success, we are now overseeing Elsevier’s contribution to Research4Life as part of our Universal Access group and strategy. Our strong support for Research4Life continues, as will its success as the primary channel in countries that could not otherwise aff ord access to the world’s scientifi c literature.