NLM operates and maintains the MEDLARS online information retrieval system for use by the biomedical community. This system is host to a number of databases, including TOXLINE, and TOXLIT, which are made up of bibliographic citations related to toxicology. These files are composite databases, consisting of a number od subfiles, several of which are proprietary databases obtainable only on a license basis. Currently TOXLINE containing information from non-proprietary sources for which no royality charges must be recovered from users and information from proprietary files for which it is not necessary to pay separate and additional royality charges based on file use. TOXLIT contains information supplied to NLM be secondary sources that have enriched their bibliographic citations with proprietary information such as abstracts and indexing terms. A license fee and, at present, additional royality charges based on usage, must be paid to suppliers of these enriched citations. The IPA subfile, a product of ASHP, is included in TOXLINE. The purpose of this contract with ASHP is to cover the annual license of the IPA data, which will continue to include all associated user charges. This arrangement will allow NLM to present the TOXLINE files so that citations from all sources without royality fees based on usage are placed in one file (and a backfile split off by publication year).
