JournalToGo® is a subscription program that keep users up-to-date with therapeutic medical literature by providing clinical abstracts from current journal articles. Abstracts can be retrieved via Web browser, email, or personal digital assistant (PDA). JournalToGo is a National Library of Medicine licensee and receives updated citations and abstracts on a weekly schedule. Free registration for JournalToGo is available at www.journaltogo.com. Channels available for subscription include arthritis, asthma, cardiology, dermatology, diabetes, family practice, internal medicine, major medical journals, migraine, oncology, pediatrics, pulmonology, Reuters health information, radiology, sports medicine, and urology. Companies and organizations may sponsor private channels, which are not included in this review.
JournalToGo requires software installation on a Windows or Macintosh personal computer and on a PalmOS or WinCE PDA. Users configure topic subscriptions on the JournalToGo Website, and abstracts are transferred during PDA synchronization. To access abstracts on the PDA, users select a channel and are presented with an alphabetical list of journals. Abstracts are organized on the PDA by channel and within channels by journal title (Figure 4).
Figure 4 JournalToGo screens
Using the icons at the bottom of the screen, abstracts can be copied to the PDA text editor, emailed, or bookmarked with notes. Email functions are handled by the JournalToGo synchronization, and no email client configuration is required. Users can add notes when bookmarking abstracts. Notes and abstracts are saved on the JournalToGo Website for later access and can be edited or deleted. The email and bookmark functions are particularly handy for interlibrary loan and photocopy requests, as many citations include PubMed unique identifiers.
JournalToGo abstracts can be very helpful for physicians, pharmacists, nurses, medical students, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. They can keep up-to-date by reading abstracts during spare moments from any location. Health sciences librarians will also find JournalToGo a useful service, particularly the major medical journals channel.
JournalToGo is published by HealthTech Solutions, a Medicus Group International company and is provided as a free service to the health care community. JournalToGo does not accept any advertisements or endorsement funds. The only funding JournalToGo receives is from companies and organizations that sponsor invited channels. As of November 2002, there are 12,000 subscribers (about 95% are physicians). The technical support staff responds to requests by telephone and email in a timely manner and is very helpful. New channels and features are added to JournalToGo based on user requests.
JournalToGo is a very effective way to help keep current with therapeutic medical literature and news. It is easy to use and provides good, current information.