Will journals still exist in the future ? I recently noticed a change in the way of thinking. Does it matter if you publish in JACS or Inorg.Chem. or another title of ACS ? (I know it still matters, but...) In the approaching electronic/online/internet age, names (and reputations) are loosing its value. The name of different journals are only different URLs and as journals are sold en-bloc, who cares about the actual journal ? The brandname is or will become ACS (or RSC, Wiley, ScienceDirect, etc). Do we actually see a transformation into databases ? I see big chances ahead, if publications could then change into extractable publications, using XML, CML, etc. Our search possibilities would dramatically increase and make life much easier. That's not good for CAS, however, if they don't find a possibility to add value. Also printing (or downloading to electronic readers) could then be customized. I am really looking forward to such changes. We are approaching a new world, brave or not, we will see. Best regards Michael Engel chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)