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Published online 7 May 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/453139a
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Chemists spin a web of data
Chemspider website provides free information on millions of molecules.
A chemist running a computer server from his home is quietly solving one of his colleagues' biggest frustrations by providing the community with an open-access source of chemical information.
Although biologists have enormous public databases of genes and proteins, chemists usually have to pay for access to data on molecules.
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As the Host of ChemSpider I wanted to clarify some of the statements and put them into a context which could not be captured in a one page article. It was a pleasure to talk with Geoff Brumfiel and I thank him for capturing the intention of our work! My comments are posted here: http://www.chemspider.com/blog/nature-writes-about-chemspider.html
As enthusiast of "Internet-aided Chemistry" subject I wish to congratulate Nature for mentioning the Chemspider initiative. To the best of our knowledge, Chemspider represents a reliable alternative for those who were not able to access comercial databases, thus contributing for scientific inclusion mainly in the less developed countries. As Chemspider grows up, it may also be used by the scientific community as a bargain tool for obtain better services or lower prices from suppliers of comercial databases.