Although little discussed on this list (other lists have extensive discussions) the evolution of peer-reviewed journals to adapt to the Internet has been remarkable, although not necessarily in step between the interests of the publisher, the author and the reader. Chemistry journals have followed the crowd (I think its fair to say that with a few honourable exceptions, they tend to be conservative, perhaps mirroring the audience?). It is with interest therefore that http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org/journals.htm reports an intention of launching "PLoS Chemistry". In the manifesto, they state "we estimate that it will cost us approximately $1,500 per published paper to maintain an outstanding editorial staff, coordinate peer-review, and produced polished finished works, and we will set our charges to match these costs" although they also write "We understand that there are many scientists who might wish to publish in our journals but do not have access to grant funds or institutional support to allow them to pay publication fees, and we will substantially reduce or waive the publication fees for any authors for whom they would be a burden". We dont yet know if this journal will be conventional in offering eg Acrobat delivery of electronic paper, or otherwise; it certainly will be of interest to see how they adapt to the rather unique culture in chemistry (which, inter alia, assumes that only perhaps the 10 top journals "really matter"). In terms of the impact that e-journals have had, its certainly true that we are now seriously considering reducing the amount of physical space devoted to printed journals in our own library very substantially, and it may be that pretty much all paper will be eliminated within five years (apparently the resale value of bound volumes is very low indeed). This would mean that unless you have access to a well-endowed institutional license, you would have great difficulty accessing the newest chemistry. Hence of course the. publiclibraryofscience.org. Is this a widespread trend amongst the readership of this list? If so, it would certainly mean the extinction of paper in a period covering perhaps less than ten years, a remarkable feat. -- Henry Rzepa. Imperial College, Chemistry Dept. +44 0778 626 8220 +44 020 7594 5804 (Fax) 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)