Electronic Publishing or Electronic Information Handling? 1 a New Culture

The current dramatic evolution in information technology is bringing major mod i cations in the way scientists communicate The concept of electronic publishing is too restrictive and has often di erent sometimes con icting interpretations It is thus giving way to the broader notion of electronic information handling en compassing the diverse types of information the di erent media as well as the various communication methodologies and technologies New problems and chal lenges result also from this new information culture especially on legal ethical and educational grounds The procedures for validating published material and for evaluating scienti c activities will have to be adjusted too Fluid information is becoming a common concept Electronic publishing cannot be conceived without link to knowledge bases nor without intelligent information retrieval tools