Using the world wide web to facilitate the editing and publishing of a textbook for faculty professional development

The purpose of this report is to describe the editing and publication of a textbook to increase the opportunity for faculty to contribute textbook chapters, using the internet WWW to facilitate the editing process.

An outline of 22 sections containing 214 chapters, was developed. Each section was assigned to an editor Editors recruited authors for each of their section chapters. Chapters were submitted to the editors, then a chief editor completed the editing for the chapter.

Chapters that were completed early were posted on the WWW which permitted additional review by the authors facilitating communication with the editors. The additional lead time on the WWW permitted indexing and identification by internet search engines (e.g., Google), so that by the time the textbook was completed, most major search engines had already identified the on-line textbook. Page/type-setting was streamlined by the electronic transfer of the equivalent on-line chapter files to the publisher. 41 chapters were contributed by 18 senior faculty, 51 chapters were contributed by 29 assistant professors, 46 chapters were contributed by 23 non-faculty community physicians, 38 chapters were contributed by 27 residents, and 40 chapters were contributed by 37 medical students.

A textbook project such as this provides faculty with the opportunity to contribute to the medical literature enhancing their professional development. The WWW provides a new forum for publishing a textbook. It also provides a new communication option between editors and authors to better coordinate the content and editorial style of the chapters.