Editor of this issue:

William Self, The Medical Library Center of New York, 5 East 102nd St., 7th Floor, New York, NY 10029 S-1, Phone: 212-427-1630, Fax: 212-860-3496, E-mail: wself@mlcny.org.

Curran, C. The medical journal meets the Internet. First Monday 2002; 7(6).

The promising title of this article proves disappointing in the content. It begins with an overview of the development of electronic journals, but instead of providing a comprehensive list of e-journals (or linking to a page of e-journals, as this is an online publication), the author provides only a short table of six e-journals as an example of e-journals. The author does, however, provide an overview of the publication process, and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of medical journals on the Internet and peer review. A light and quick look at medical electronic journals.

Lord, Lissa. Electronic Newsletters: The How and Why of Them. LLRS.COM May 15, 2002. http://www.llrx.com/features/e-newsletters.htm

A practical, humorous and hands-on approach to the creation of a library newsletter for the Leon E. Bloch Law Library of the University of Missouri at Kansas City. The author provides a detailed description of what choices led to the publication of the newsletter, the choice of software, formatting, displaying and archiving of the publication. In addition, the evaluation and reader comments are enclosed.

Peek, R. SPARC is ready to go mainstream. Information Today June 2002; 19(6):38.

The author brings us up to date on what is happening with SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Publication). SPARC's goals are encouraging low-cost and alternative publishing options for scholars and libraries. To facilitate this, SPARC has published a series of guides that can assist the new-to-publishing crowd get started. The series are Create Change, Declaring Independence, and Gaining Independence: A Manual (http://www.arl.org/sparc/GI). SPARC also has 20 partners in alternative publishing programs ranging from low-cost alternatives, partnering with non-profits and  -  in taking the offensive  -  supporting projects that use new technology or existing technology in an innovative way. The article also briefly mentions three other alternative scholarly publishing initiatives: the Budapest Open Access Initiative, the Council on Library and Information Resources' Scholarly Communication Institute and the Open Society Institute.

Young, JR. Journal boycott over online access is a bust. The Chronicle of Higher Education. May 16, 2002. http://chronicle.com/free/2002/05/2002051601t.htm.

This article is an update on the status of the Public Library of Science's planned boycott of any journal that did not make its content free online six months after initial publication. Over 30,000 scientists signed the boycott agreeing that after September 2001, they would not "publish in, subscribe to, or serve as an editor for any journal" that did not make its material free after six months. The article notes that very few people stuck to their pledge and so the leaders of the Public Library of Science movement have planned to publish their own journals as alternatives to the existing journals. The proposed new journals will make their content free online immediately upon publication. The business model they intend to use is shifting the cost of publication to the authors, with an expected author charge of $500 per article. Harold Varmus, president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, is quoted in the article.