In 2008, in order Milciclib to offer a more rational and cost-effective system for scientific communication, the JECCR became an open access online publication, published by

BioMed Central (BMC). It, as already said, is an independent publishing house committed to providing immediate open access to peer-reviewed biomedical research and was chosen on the basis of its prestige as witnessed by over 180 online open access journals covering the whole of biology and medicine. Moving from traditional printed copy to online editing, represented for the Journal a quantum leap in terms of: number of annual submissions (over 70%); rapid publication and higher visibility (from nine to three months from submission to PubMed, with consequent increase of the citation ranking); in particular the immediacy index (impact factor computed in the same

year of publication) has grown from 0,048 in 2007, to 0,127 in 2008, reaching 0,308 in 2009. Also the manuscript tracking during and after the publication process, for instance the number of times the article is viewed or downloaded is more and more growing. In conclusion, the Journal of Experimental STAT inhibitor & Clinical Luminespib cell line Cancer Research experience confirmed that online open access ensures a wider dissemination of the research accompanied by a good cost-effectiveness. As far as the information tools addressed to lay people, an interesting open access resource in the field of oncology and public health is represented by Cignoweb.it [22]. It consists in an online data bank conceived for the benefit of patients, their families and the general public, and is based on a Project coordinated by the Centro di Riferimento Oncologico

(CRO) of Aviano, in collaboration Meloxicam with the ISS, the Istituto Farmacologico Mario Negri of Milan and Medinfo (Laboratorio di nanobiotecnologie e informatica medica) for software implementation. Cignoweb.it is part of a wider project supported by Alliance Against Cancer [23] aimed to set up in Italy the National Service for the Welcoming and information with the collaboration of the Italian Cancer Voluntary Association Federation (FAVO). In particular, Cignoweb.it intends to achieve the following objectives: 1. – Check for all information material in any support, produced in Italy and addressed to patients; assess the quality of the information retrieved and make it accessible on the web through a single, user-friendly and integrated interface;   2. – Make available an authoritative source of information to the benefit of the lay people, aimed at improving the communication between citizens and health facilities in Italy, thanks to the creation of reference points for the spread of information;   3. – Lower barriers to the access to reliable information for citizens-patients and contribute to promoting a culture based on the concept of a critical evaluation of information;   4.