Index Medicus titles relating to electronic journals have been listed since 1995. Many prominent print journals now publish parallel ejournals. Often, the same articles in the ejournals have more detail, and graphics than the corresponding print articles.

Accessability of full text articles on the internet has been cited as one aspect of “impact factors” for dual published articles(print and ejournal). What about journals that are only published online? A well known clinical trial database group, Cochrane, only has publication on-line or on CD-ROM form). This ejournal, Cochrane Reviews is subscription based, thus access is limited except for the abstracts which are cited by Index Medicus. Medscape publishes articles, which are full text available with registration but without a fee. These articles are not listed as yet by the Index Medicus.

Should authors submit to this type of ejournal? In the academic world, electronic citations are now listed in compilations of author publications. Thus resume building seems to be a valid reason for publishing ejournal articles. Ejournals also tend to be published more quickly and sometimes more frequently. Thus the potential for more rapid publication is another reason for ejournal publication. Sometimes, however different issues may have the same article. How do you cite an article that has been published in more than one issue? Certainly there is potential for the problem of duplicate publishing, although not in different journals. One advantage for ejournal publication is the availability of multimedia. Video, slide shows, detailed photographs/figures, and sound can all be published in an ejournal. Anyone who has seen a photomicrograph in the ejournal version of Nature can attest to the stunning details that can be provided in this format. On the other hand, how often does a video or sound add significantly to an article? Maybe more, if authors think about collecting this kind of data.

Another potential area of benefit for ejournals could be in the correspondence area. Presently, letters and responses are printed after editorial review. Should a discussion site with a moderator be added to ejournals? This could lead to more rapid exchange of ideas but it could also be an area where a lot of “junk mail” is deposited. So what is in the future of ejournals that have no print version? This remains to be seen. As editor in chief of the Internet Journal of Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology, I hope that our ejournal will encourage submissions of observations as well as studies. Hopefully, some of the published (and thus publicized) clinical observations will stimulate the relevant community to pursue and better understand specific aspects of allergic disorders.