engleski

Trends in Using Insecure E-mail Services in Communication with Journal Editors

Objective: Free web based e mail services (e.g. gmail, yahoo and hotmail) are considered to have more security flaws than institutional ones, but are widely popular and frequently used. The objective of this study was to analyze the changes in the use of free web based e mail services for correspondence by authors of published papers in a medical journal. Design: Contact information of corresponding authors for all papers published in the Croatian Medical Journal (CMJ) during a ten year span (1998-2007) were collected from the CMJ electronic archive. Domains of all e mail addresses were assessed and contacts were categorized into four groups: no e mail, world wide available free web based e mail service, free national web based e mail service, and institutional or corporate e mail address. Results: Out of 978 authors, 34 had no mail (3.5%), 563 (57.6%) used institutional or corporate e mail addresses, 246 (25.2%) free national web based e mail service, and 135 (13.8%) world wide available free web based e mail service. The proportion of authors using world wide available free web based e mail services increased from 7.6% in 1999 to 20.8% in 2007 showing significant increasing trend (Cochrane-Armitage trend test, P=0.011). Non Croatian authors (n=520, 53%) more often used institutional e mail addresses than Croatian authors (n=458, 47%), (chi square=56.1, df=3, P<0.001). Conclusions: There is a significant increasing trend in using world wide available free web based e mail services in a small general medical journal. Authors should be aware that insecure e mail services may compromise confidential nature of author editor communication and should prefer institutional e mail addresses over free ones.

confidentiality; security; e-mail

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