Information Today
Volume 17, Issue 9 • October 2000
eMedicine, Inc. Receives Patent for Internet Publishing Software

eMedicine, Inc. (http://www.emedicine.com), the medical-education network and developer of the first online peer-reviewed medical reference series, has announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted a patent to the company’s proprietary Group Publishing System (GPS) software. The GPS enables collaborative, enterprisewide publishing and allows authors and editors to create large, multi-author projects—online content, journals, books, and manuals—entirely on the Internet.

Jeff Berezin, chief technical officer and architect of the GPS system, said: “The software is unique—it is the only enterprise software that allows all production to take place on the Internet. The system allows authoring and editing within the GPS environment or through word-processing programs like Word.” Software engineer Joanne Berezin, who co-developed the system, said, “Our system is a complete authoring, editing, and version-control system with complete management-tracking tools and a built-in communications network.”

eMedicine created the Group Publishing System to publish original, online medical textbooks that give physicians Internet access to up-to-date, clinical-decision-support tools and information. Each submission undergoes four levels of physician peer review for quality assurance. Authors and editors have instant access to their contributions and may update them whenever necessary. The content includes radiographic images, audio and video clips, and links to other sites.

The system has been used by 6,500 physician-contributors from 1,000 institutions to write, edit, and peer-review 65 eMedicine online textbooks that are currently in development for the eMedicine site. The GPS system is not specific to medicine and can be used in other Internet and enterprise publishing projects. The company plans to market the software separately early next year.

Source: eMedicine, Inc., St. Petersburg, FL, 727/343-9445; http://www.emedicine.com.


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