The Internet for pathologists: A simple schema for evaluating pathology-related web sites and a catalog of sites useful for practicing pathologists

Context. - With the increasing popularity of the Internet as a primary medical information source, it is critical for pathologists to be able to use and evaluate both general medical- and pathology-related Web sites. Several published models for evaluating Web sites prove cumbersome to use and often involve computer- or statistic-based algorithms. Objectives. - To develop a simple group of scoring criteria to objectively evaluate medical Web sites and provide a list of the highest-scoring pathology-related sites that will be useful to the practicing pathologist. Design. - Using 11 commonly used Internet search engines, the top 50 "hits" retrieved from the search term websites for pathologists were scored using 5 criteria, including accuracy, ease of navigation, relevance, updates, and completeness. A possible 6 to 12 points per area were awarded, and the total score was summated. Results. - Scores obtained ranged from 12 to 21. Thirty-five Web sites, all scoring 15 or higher based on these criteria, were listed as most useful. Conclusion. - A simple, easy-to-use, 5-category scoring system can prove useful in evaluating pathology- and medical-related Web sites.