Sharing digitized research-related information on the World Wide Web

Five-hundred twenty-seven full bibliographic records containing URLs were downloaded from SCISEARCH as part of an exploration of the extent of Web publication of electronic research-related information (E-RRI) in the sciences and classified as to resource type, subject area, and degree of intellectual property protection. Four hundred eighty-five records represented nonduplicate descriptions of data compilations (194), software (153), Websites (73), electronic documents (49), and digitized images (17). The greatest concentration of E-RRI was found in molecular biology (QP=123), general natural history and biology (QH=84), and medicine (R=74). Roughly two-thirds of the 410 accessible Webpages (67%) permitted totally free and unrestricted public access and use of the information; 11% requested citation of a related journal article as acknowledgment of use; the remainder stated conditions for use or relied on a statement of copyright as an indication of ownership. The World Wide Web appears to have become a significant channel for scientists to distribute databases, software, and other information related to their published research.