Internet Resources Selection Criteria

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Internet Resources Selection Criteria

These are the criteria our Web site team uses when selecting resources for our Web pages. If you have a question or comment about any of our links, please e-mail our Web site coordinator at bmlweb@ucsd.edu. (Based on: "Guidelines for Internet Resource Selection," by Pratt, G.F., Flannery, P., Perkins, C.L.D. C&RL News 57(3):135-5; & Health on the Net's HONcode Principles.)

Relevancy:: Resource/web site(s) shall be related to health, medicine, or any of the biological sciences.
Quality and Content (Resource will satisfy one or more of the following):: Content shall be:
1) as scientifically accurate as possible -- based on current knowledge; 2) peer-reviewed by experts in the field; 3) produced as part of the mission of a governmental agency, national or international organization; 4) developed by an academic institution or commercial enterprise with an established reputation in the topical area and shown to cover subject area well; 5) regularly updated or revised by provider; 6) referenced to clearly identifiable source data when possible.
Reliability, stability & ease of use:: Access to resource shall be consistently and readily available. If individual user registration is required, the process shall be clearly outlined and user registration information shall be secure and protected by vendor. User interface should be relatively easy, with clear documentation or online FAQs for user referral.
Copyright:: Copyright shall be strictly enforced and a notice to users shall be clearly visible. If necessary, permission to use all or part of a selected resource shall be obtained from vendor; an appropriate credit will be clearly listed.
Disclaimer:: UCSD Biomedical & Medical Center Libraries disclaim any warranty or liability relating to errors, omissions, accuracy or fitness for a particular purpose. The information provided is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her existing health care provider.
Confidentiality:: Confidentiality of data relating to individual patients and visitors to the resources available from UCSD Biomedical/Medical Center Libraries web pages shall be respected.