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States that a major British medical journal, `BMJ' is testing a new system of peer review using the World-Wide Web. Paper by outspoken advocate of online scholarship which has been publicly posted on the journal's Web site; Editors to decide whether to accept the paper and publish it in the printed version of the journal.

Reports on the unveiling of a preprint server on the Elsevier Science ChemWeb site. Opinion that this form of publishing is more efficient, democratic and scholarly than the print-journal system; Concern that papers posted online would then be rejected for print publication; Statement that experts believe that the American Chemical Society should make use of the advantages that preprint servers offer.

Discusses use of the internet as a means for conducting peer review of articles submitted for publication. Examples of journals that are using this online technique; How online peer review works; The positive and negative aspects of it, including faster publication of the article and the fact that some reviewers do not have Internet or electronic mail access; Security measures being taken; Comments from editor James L. Morrison.

Discusses an on-line review process developed by Neoplasia, a journal of oncology. Ability of authors to track the status of their submissions electronically; Popularity of the on-line system; Comments by Brian D. Ross, journal's editor.

The essay considers the future of books and the possibility that they will be broken into smaller pieces for selling and promotion. It envisions an entity such as Amazon selling the 100 best sentences of the day for a dollar, or the pithiest ten sentences in books by authors such as Thomas Friedman or Malcolm Gladwell. It notes that as digital music has done away with the concept of the album in favor of individual songs, so can the digital book industry break up the book into smaller pieces.