GENERAL NEWS

Procedure for procurement of journals 
for medical schools in Yugoslavia


After the President of the Medicus wrote to several publishers of medical journals requesting a two year free subscriptions for six medical schools in Yugoslavia, and received a positive response, a need to formalize the procurement of journals has arisen. This document describes procedures for requesting, selecting, distribution, monitoring of usage and dealing with complaints.

§        1. Requesting a free subscription

·       1.1 A request for a free subscription to a medical journal shall be made in writing to the President (or Secretary) of the Medicus by a member of the Medicus, or by a Dean, contact person or another official, from one of the Yugoslav medical schools.

·       1.2 The President (or Secretary) shall present the request for approval to members of the Medicus Executive Committee.

·       1.3 The Executive Committee will approve the request if the journal is published in English, and is of general interest to the medical profession, or of interest to specialists in one of the major medical or surgical specialties.

·       1.4 When the Executive Committee approves the request their decision will be passed to the journals coordinator for further action (see below).

  • 2. Actions by journals coordinator
     
  • 2.1 Journals coordinator shall write to the publisher (or owners) of the requested journal.
     

  • 2.2 When an offer of a free subscription is received the coordinator shall:

  • Write a thank you letter to the publisher (or owners)
  • Inform the Dean of medical schools requesting a thank you letter to the publisher (or owners)
  • Provide the mailing department of the journal with names and addresses of the designated persons responsible for receiving the journal
  • 2.3 In addition the coordinator shall:
  • Request from the librarians that copies of donated journals are kept in the library
  • Receive from the librarians an indication on the readers’ interest in the donated journals
  • Collate, analyse and archive all documents related free subscription of journals
  • Provide the President (with a copy to Secretary) with a quarterly summary of activities
  • Provide a yearly report of activities to be presented at the Annual General Meeting of the Medicus
  • 3. Monitoring of readers’ interest
  • 3.1 There shall be an obligation on the designated persons responsible for receiving donated journals to:
  • Inform the journals coordinator of any failure in the supply of donated journals
  • Monitor the readers’ interest in donated journals
  • 3.2 The necessity for monitoring the usage arises from the need to provide the donor with an indication of how useful the gift is, and the likelihood that Medicus will seek an extension of free subscription after the initial two years on behalf of some of the medical schools.
     
  • 3.3 It will be left to the librarians to use a method for assessing the size of readership of donated journals most appropriate to the local circumstances.
     
  • 3.4 Librarians receiving donated journals shall send a brief report to the coordinator every six months.
  • 4. Complaints procedure
  • 4.1 In the unlikely event that a complaint or grievance related to the provision of free subscriptions is made by a person(s) involved in providing, mailing, receiving or using donated journals the following procedure shall apply:
    • The complaint in writing shall be addressed to the journals coordinator
    • The journals coordinator shall attend to the complaint
    • In case that the journals coordinator in unable to resolve the problem it shall be present for discussion at the next meeting of the Executive Committee 
    • The President (or Secretary) shall inform the complainant of the Executive Committee’s decision and subsequent action
  • 5. Implementation date and review of the procedure
  • 5.1 This procedure shall be implemented on 1 November 2001.
     
  • 5.2 A review of the procedure shall be carried out by the Executive Committee of the Medicus, and amended as required, at six monthly intervals.


Division of Infection, Inflammation and Repair, Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, Level D, Centre Block
Southampton University General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, United Kingdom
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