Journals will definitely exist in the future and keep their different approaches to the subject. Chemists are very conservative and love to have intelligent information in names, references and so on. Just because new technology comes along we don't have to throw all the good things out the window. I'd hate to give reference to article no. 7854287 in ACS 2005. That reference doesn't say what field of chemistry its in at all and I would be quite frustrated when only one of every 200 articles or so is understandable. Larger journals (JBC) already have sections for different fields so why make even bigger ones? The technology change in a rapid pace but the human evolution is still crawling. Chemists like to keep things categorized to minimize the hassle of finding the correct information. Search engines help out but you don't give a colleague a complex search method when you simply can say "page 4560 in JACS last year". Web editions will probably take over the paper ones over time but there is still just a fraction of the information that is available online in full text. just my two SEK on the matter, Niklas Falk

?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

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