Service acts as a clearing house for vendors of scientific products and services, academic societies and journal publishers, enabling researchers to manage their inboxes
The new free-of-charge I-kode service that helps life science researchers take control of their mail is now available worldwide.
It saves time and reduces waste.
Scientists select the I-kode partners (vendors of scientific products and services, academic societies and journal publishers) from whom they wish to receive hard copy mail and/or email.
They can also request removal from mailing lists or give details of colleagues who may have left.
A busy lab manager in the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford, commented: "I like the ability to request information from a number of companies without having to contact each one".
When a scientist moves to a new lab, it takes less than a minute to update their contact details and all of their chosen partners will receive their new information in a fraction of the time it would take to notify each one individually, says Ikon.
A lab manager at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Imperial College, London, particularly likes this aspect: "This is a brilliant idea" she said. "I have changed jobs seven times in the last ten years and this system will keep me up to date with companies' literature, and will remind me that the companies exist when someone has walked off with my catalogue.
"I would like to see all companies and journals as part of this system". Scientists who have just moved to a new lab find the I-kode.com service provides a quick and easy way for them to request information from a number of vendors without having to contact each one individually, claims Ikon.
A researcher who is just completing her PhD said: "I've just moved to the Centre for Inherited Neuromuscular Disease to start a post-doc and it's very helpful to be able to contact all the companies without writing to each one or having to fill in the same information on lots of different forms".
Every year between thirty and fifty million pieces of scientific mail are sent to people who have moved.
That represents over $150m worth of waste; money that could be spent on developing better research tools and reagents, or ploughed back into research.
The I-kode.com service has been developed by Ikon Informatix.
The company was founded by Susan Sinclair, who said: "I have worked for many years in the life science business and I have always wished there could be a way of reducing the waste when direct mail is sent to people who have moved - well, now there is".
Sinclair feels strongly about this: "When the majority of researchers use the I-kode.com service it will cut out a huge amount of waste - of people's time, as well as resources".
Stephen Hoare, operations director, is excited by the future potential of the service.
"The underlying extranet technology has great power and flexibility" he said.
"Users will be able to build their own online communities where researchers can securely share information, files or even diaries with selected collaborators. "Smaller academic societies or groups of scientists could use the technology to communicate with the wider scientific community or privately with their members, without needing to develop their own expensive web capability.
"All of this is available from anywhere in the world with web access".
The I-kode.com service underwent a beta testing phase in the UK from May to November 2004 and is now available worldwide.
"We have been very pleased with the response so far" said Sinclair "and now we need to spread the word - everyone in life science research needs to join and then we can really make a difference!"
