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Executive Summary
In response to the need for an independent cancer platform for scientific dissemination, ecancermedicalscience.com was launched in September 2007. An online social network for scientific and information exchange between oncologists worldwide, ecancer operates as a non-profit making charity affiliated with ECCO and the Umberto Veronesi Foundation and is the official online-only journal of the European Institute of Oncology. Utilising rich-media video as well as text and image media, ecancer provides free access to cancer specialists to publish and broadcast scientific information and news, and allows their peers to read, listen, watch, comment on and share science in order to more rapidly advance the treatment of cancer.
Situation/Market Analysis
The traditional forums for scientific data dissemination are currently through print based publication in commercial journals, medical society congresses and company-sponsored meetings.
With advances in both the medical and scientific fields of cancer now being so diverse and rapid, these traditional channels hold back the speed at which the sharing, debate and adoption of new technologies, methodologies and treatments can take place. Ultimately this prevents access to potentially successful treatment options for cancer patients.
Original Brief
European cancer research is of a very high quality but is fragmented, un-coordinated and slow in translating benefits to patients. Cancer care delivery is also excellent in some European countries but by no means all. If state of the art treatment was available to all cancer patients, the World Health Organisation has estimated that over 20,000 lives would be saved annually.
Provide a journal which improves communications between sub-specialised cancer scientists and clinicians by working interactively and faster - offering authors a rapid peer review process. Active encouragement of communities of sub-specialised scientists and cancer carers to exchange ideas and research, speeding up the time it takes from discovery, to patient benefit using multimedia technology- video, audio - and a community poised to podcast and blog - ecancermedicalscience will offer a multimedia and multidisciplinary approach to cancer.
• Get the latest cancer science to the largest audience for free
• Provide friendly education (ie tv )
• Post Breaking News immediately
• Easy to access- ipod, pda, laptop
• Cover ECCO, and non ECCO conferences
• Allow peer-comment on breaking news from top conferences,
including press conference coverage
• Global outreach to emerging countries who can’t afford journals
• Webcast Key advances series
• Webcast IEO conferences
Objectives
To establish ecancer as the multi-disciplinary rapid exchange platform for the dissemination of advances in the science of cancer and the treatment of patients with this disease worldwide within 5 years from launch.
Strategy
To develop ecancer as an independent, non-profit making online social network for scientific and information exchange between cancer specialists worldwide affiliated to the cancer establishment.
In developing the ecancer website, five key strategic drivers
were identified as critical to meet the stated objective:
1. Develop a section of the website - ecancermedicalscience for publication of basic science and clinical papers and posters.
2. Develop a section of the website – ecancer.TV for shortform video broadcasting scientific information, latest policy developments and KOL opinions and views.
3. Develop a section of the website - ecancercongress for dissemination of scientific information from European and international congresses.
4. Develop a section of the website - Latest Technologies to provide a forum for explaining innovative scientific technologies.
5. Finally, partnering with other institutions would be critical to establishing ecancer as a truly independent platform, for oncologists by oncologists.
The functionality, navigation and content within ecancer makes it is easy to find information according to area of scientific interest and medical specialty.
Tactical Implementation 01:
Audience generation – customer acquisition
Email
• Launch email
• Monthly email newsletter with viral functionality
Search engine marketing
• Natural search engine optimisation
• Video search engine optimisation
Social media
• Twitter - twitter.com/ecancer
• Flickr
• YouTube – http://www.youtube.com/user/ecancertv
• Podcasts & Vodcasts
Congress activities
• Exhibition stand
• Delegate bag inserts
Tactical Implementation 02:
Content generation
User generated content
• Articles, abstracts, reviews, case studies
• Blogs
ecancer.TV
• Industry sponsorship has been successful in providing the
funding for ecancer to provide excellent video broadcast
from both major and minor medical conferences in the
field on cancer
• Partnership with Medical Societies and organisations such as
the Royal Marsden to provide CME accredited elearning on ecancer via the broadcast of programmes such as the Key Advances Series
http://www.ecancermedicalscience.com/milan-breast-cancer-conference.asp
Effectiveness:
Outcomes Vs Objectives
24 months after launch ecancer now has over 20,000
unique users per month from 191 countries and nearly
4,000 registered users.
2009 Awards
Winner 2009 PM Digital Awards for Best Online Educational Tool for Healthcare Professionals
Highly Commended in 2009 Association of Online Publishers Awards
Client Verdict
Professor Gordon McVie
Managing Editor, ecancer:
“Since our launch 18 months ago the site has developed at a faster rate than predicted; many more members and much more varied content than we were expecting. The technological innovation shown in the site’s development has no doubt contributed greatly to the overall success so far.”
Professor Michel Ballieu
CEO, ECCO:
When we first heard about Professor Umberto Veronesi’s initiative to develop a unique free open-access scientific journal, we were immediately impressed by the idea, as we believe absolutely in the need to modernise communications for health professionals.
It didn’t take long for the IEO to suggest our inclusion as a founding partner, a decision which was fully supported by the board of directors and our whole organisation, along with its financial implications.
ECCO (European CanCer Organisation) which through its members represents the interests of over 50,000 professionals in oncology was successfully secured as a founding partner along with a number of cancer patient charities including Swiss Bridge, a private foundation associated with the Swiss Cancer League and International Union against Cancer (UICC), which supports high quality cancer research in Europe. As a direct result of the success of ecancer ECCO made it the official digital and broadcast partner for ECCO meetings.
The ecancerjournal is now listed in Google scholar and the scientific content has been approved for listing in PubMed, with over 100 live articles. This is a notable milestone in the history of scientific publication, making ecancer the only free to publish, free to access, free to share, independent peer-reviewed scientific publication of its kind in the cancer world.
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