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Reports that a group of researchers say they will stop buying, publishing, or reviewing for any scientific journal that refuses to place its research papers in a proposed online database, Public Library of Science, within six months of initial publication. Reaction of publishers, who claim that free access will leave journals without enough revenue to support peer review; Speculation that the research will end up on the publicly-funded PubMedCentral rather than on a private site.

Reports on the impact that the Internet is having on the publishing of scholarly journals, the influence of scientists, and the authority of learned societies. Decision of Denmark's Technical Knowledge Center and Library in Lyngby to provide scientific journals only through the World Wide Web; Other countries that are moving in the same direction, including the United States; Cost of the printed page compared to the electronic page; Difficulty presented to libraries; Recourse taken by libraries. INSETS: User consortia emerge as `brokers.';Preserving papers for posterity;Roll over Gutenberg.

The article reflects on the launch of the online commenting facility rule of the "Nature" magazine. It notes that the online discussions on its research papers are considered more inhibited. It points out that paper comment in the formal context of its Web site may be intimidating to some scientists or may offend the colleagues. It announces that the magazine adopts a twin-track approach to meet the demand of its readers using its commenting facility.

Reports that, as of November, 2000, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature will allow zoological names to be published online rather than on paper. Statement that formal names previously had to be printed on paper to be valid; Mention of an article in the online journal 'Palaeontologia Electronica' that assigns names to species of fossil protists; Opinion that electronic taxonomy will be the rule within a decade.

Discusses possibilities of publishing scientific papers online. Benefits from electronic publishing; Payment for the system; Suggested structure of the database; Ranking of papers through the number of citations received in other papers; Suggested screening system for papers submitted for publication.

This article discusses the business losses of the Public Library of Science (PLoS), the publisher for the open-access journal movement in the U.S. Open-access model is one in which publishing costs are recovered by charging authors, and academic papers are made available for free to the end-user. The publisher lost almost one million dollars in 2005.