Reed Elsevier has taken a bold step by offering free 
journal content via a web portal in oncology called 
www.OncologySTAT.com. The site provides free access to 
current journals from Elsevier's expensive journal titles, 
paying for it by using revenue from advertising. This 
combination of open access and advertising is new.

www.OncologySTAT.com asks health workers (including 
librarians) to register and, in exchange, provides 
immediate access to current cancer-related content from 
Reed Elsevier's best journals such as The Lancet and 
Surgical Oncology. Elsevier wants to sign up 150,000 
professional users in the first year to attract advertising 
from pharmaceutical companies. This move into providing 
free oncology content using ads might be a viable business 
model, and may mean a move away from Elsevier's traditional 
expensive subscriptions-based model.