Information superhighway [online scientific publishing]

Despite the growing popularity of the World-Wide Web, few traditional publishers have been willing to venture putting their intellectual property online. In part, this has been a result of a misunderstanding of this new publishing medium, and its implications for traditional print (which stems from the modernist fear of undercutting profits). It also stems from a lack of resolution to many of the copyright issues as they relate to the digital world, especially with regard to “fair use”. Nevertheless, the Web is a powerful communications medium that was pioneered by the science and engineering communities. This paper describes how, as a member of that community, National Academy Press feels a moral obligation to meet the needs of scientists and engineers for nearly instantaneous access to critical information that may bear directly on fundamental research and policy questions