One problem is that a good deal of the solid research about autism lies in academic journals behind an Internet paywall, open only to people who have a university library card or can afford the journals’ exorbitant prices ($35 or more per article). Says neuroscientist Sophia Colamarino: “In today’s information age, where essentially anything said by anyone can be made accessible within a matter of moments, it is unfortunate that families have easy access to all BUT the most scientifically valid information, that which can be found in scientifically reviewed research literature.” NIH and Autism Speaks have tried to remedy this situation by requiring its research grant recipients to put any resulting peer-reviewed research papers on the PubMed Central online archive, but this policy affects only a fraction of the literature on autism.A positive development from the Social Science Research Network:
Just a quick update to our user community about the advances SSRN has made in the assemblage and dissemination of medical preprints in general, and of COVID research more particularly. Our MEDICAL RESEARCH NETWORK (MedRN) currently boasts more than 21,000 papers, making it the largest source of medical preprints in the world! Be sure to check it out at https://www.ssrn.com/index.cfm/en/medrn/. Also, since March 2020, we've processed and distributed nearly 6,000 COVID-related papers from researchers worldwide. From hardcore medical clinical studies https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3696875 to more interdisciplinary analyses of the legal, political, societal, and economic fallout https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3714304, you're sure to find it in SSRN's Coronavirus Hub https://www.ssrn.com/index.cfm/en/coronavirus/.
For all the latest scientific, regulatory, and economic research on VACCINES, be sure to consult SSRN's new Vaccine Hub https://ssrn.com. For more information, please contact Brian St. Germain, Director of Business Development, at bstgermain@ssrn.com.
Many of the papers deal with autism.
