March 1, 2016 (Vol. 36, No. 5)
Rating:
Strong Points: Easy to download articles, open access
Weak Points: No annotation tools
Platform:
iPad/iPhone/Android
Cost:
Free
Summary:
The Gut Pathogens app is the reader app for the open-access BioMed Central journal of the same name. Articles from 2009 through the present are available for download within the app. Users access the articles from a left-hand sidebar within the app, with the option to either browse by issue or select an article from the “latest articles” tab. There is also a “recently read” tab where users can easily access recently opened articles from the home screen. Articles are easily downloadable, and users have the option to email or print the articles from within the app as well. However, beyond simply providing the PDFs, the app does not offer any annotation tools that readers might find helpful, such as a highlighter or way to add notes to the documents.
