BioOne earlier completed a retrospective assignment of Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) and deposit of those DOIs with the CrossRef system for each full-text item in the service. As part of this project, BioOne implemented Forward Linking to other articles — both inside and outside of the BioOne service — that reference the articles in the database. The combination of improved reference linking and Forward Linking is anticipated to enhance the usability of articles and searchers' ability to find articles in the BioOne service.

In principle, Forward Linking is similar to reference linking. However, rather than pointing to articles that were referenced or citations to previous work, Forward Linking provides links outward to articles published after the article currently being read, and which have cited the article the user found. The link to articles citing a particular article is available on each of the article full-text pages by selecting See Articles Citing This Article in the Contents box to the right of the article text screen.

This enhanced functionality is provided to publishers and users at no charge. BioOne is absorbing the fees on behalf of participating publishers for deposit and registration of the DOIs. In addition, BioOne provides the setup and coordination fees for the Forward Linking program centrally. Management of the DOI service is provided by participation in CrossRef, a nonprofit industry organization that provides the infrastructure for assignment and coordination of reference linking.

For further information on joining the BCR BioOne group subscription, contact Laura Chittivej (lchittiv@bcr.org).