Unlike most medical journals, AFP has always had a fairly liberal online access policy, with no restrictions or charges on accessing content 12 months after the date of publication. (Content published within the past 12 months is freely available to members of the American Academy of Family Physicians and to other health professionals with subscriptions.) While our primary concern is to serve the journal's 170,000 regular readers, we also recognize that having immediate access to some new content would be valuable to others in the primary care community and our patients. Therefore, starting with the March 15th issue, the following sections of the journal will now be freely accessible online, regardless of publication date:
Graham Center Policy One-Pagers
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force statements
Pro/Con Editorials (only members and paid subscribers can post comments)
AAFP News Now
Close-Ups: A Patient's Perspective
Patient Handouts
These sections of the journal were selected because they are intended for our patients or the wider medical community, and most are freely available on other sites.
We hope that AFP's new "selected open access" policy will benefit family physicians and their patients by allowing the journal to reach a wider online audience, while continuing to reserve continuing medical education-associated content to members and paid subscribers.
