Kenilworth, N.J. (June 30, 2015) – The Merck Manuals, a series of medical reference books long trusted by doctors and patients alike, have gone all-digital.                                                                                                                                               Now their current and credible content is available online at no charge as a public service.

The move to an electronic platform allows for regular updates of the material and real-time news-feeds about the latest developments in medicine. 

“Merck will no longer publish The Merck Manuals, at least not on paper,” explained Editor-in-Chief Robert S. Porter. "We are continually updating our content and publishing it online as soon as it is ready, so we make no distinction among 'editions.' Our sole distinction is audience.”

Site Puts Professionals, Consumers on Same Page 

Visitors to www.merckmanuals.com can select from two options on its landing page: one with advanced content designed for healthcare professionals and the other with the same subject matter translated into easy-to-understand language for consumers.

This offering is timely, given recent findings that nearly 4 in 5 Americans (79 percent) believe that having access to the same information their doctor uses would improve their own understanding of their health. The online survey of 2,000 adults was conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of The Merck Manuals.

The website is the only medical reference that allows healthcare professionals, with one keystroke, to go from a topic written for their use, to the same topic written for consumers. That material can be electronically shared with patients or printed out and handed to them.

Features include expert commentary, infographics, animations, video clips, health calculators and trackers, quizzes, as well as a drug interaction checker, pill identifier, and guide to pronunciation of medical terms.

The website has no registration, and the user experience is not compromised by advertising or commercial messaging. 

More than 350 medical experts currently serve as contributors; all content is reviewed by an independent editorial board.

Trusted in Three Centuries

Pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck & Co., Inc. published the original Merck Manual for doctors in 1898. The professional edition was updated 18 times, lastly in 2011.

The first edition of The Merck Manual of Medical Information, developed specifically to address the need for understandable medical information among consumers, was introduced in 1997. This book made The New York Times best-sellers list in its second edition.

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