From the shelf to the monitor: opportunities and difficulties for psychiatric journals switching from paper to on-line

SummaryThe author examines the changes brought about by Internet in the complex field of international medical and scientific journals (and psychiatric journals in particular), since online versions of the printed publications have been made available on the Internet. Attention is focused on the surfeit of these scientific journals and on the economic implications of the transformation. The article underlines how the international scientific community has become conscious of its importance in the production of scientific journals and a description of the very innovative Public Library of Science (PLoS) initiative is also given. The author illustrates the possible future functioning of scientific journals, the so-called “Author pays” model, which is still controversial and closes with comments on the increasingly important role played by direct communication between scientific community and citizens, including the use of specific journals and websites.Declaration of Interestthe Author is the Multimedial Scientific Information Manager of the Bologna Local Health Unit and as such, he may tend to stress the importance of giving National Health Service employees and health workers in general high quality scientific information that is free from conflicts of interest. He receives a salary from from the National Health Service that would not be altered by changes to the international publishing system.