RCVS Knowledge to develop open access, online evidence base
18 June 2015
We are developing an open access, online evidence base for veterinary practitioners, after funding of £328,000 for the first two years of the project was approved by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), our main funding partner.
The evidence base will publish Knowledge Summaries, systematic reviews, toolkits and other vital resources for those in daily practice, says our Executive Director, Nick Royle.
He says: “Evidence-based veterinary medicine is not a new idea, but for it to succeed in having a substantial positive impact on clinical standards, the evidence needs to be quickly and easily accessible for front-line practitioners. That’s what the online evidence base will achieve.
“This early support from the RCVS allows us not only to develop the online publishing platform, but to waive the usual open access submission fees, which means it will be free to submit work for publication as well as to view content. This will remove another barrier for practising veterinary professionals who want to contribute to the evidence base – who want to publish from practice.”
The RCVS President, Professor Stuart Reid, explains why RCVS Council viewed support of the initiative as important in the College's mission of upholding and advancing the standards of veterinary practice.
Professor Reid says: “Having access to the best available evidence when making clinical decisions in practice is hugely important and one of the problems facing those at the sharp end of clinical care is keeping up to date with the plethora of papers published every year.
“That’s why the RCVS has supported RCVS Knowledge in its mission to ensure that evidence reviews, with clear clinical bottom lines, are available to the practising veterinary community. By funding the first two years of this project, the RCVS is ensuring that a quality evidence base is accessible for free to all members of the profession.”
We aim to launch the evidence base later in 2015. To get involved in reviewing and publishing Knowledge Summaries or other EBVM resources for the new evidence base, join the EBVM Network.