"The Symposium on Electronic Scientific, Technical, and Medical Journal Publishing and Its Implications ... was held May 19-20, 2003, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C."--Page viii. "This report is based on excerpts from the symposium Proceedings that the committee found particularly useful to highlight ... The report does not cover all the issues that a more comprehensive study might consider, since it is limited only to the topics discussed during the symposium"--Page viii-ix. Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction -- Costs of publication -- Publication business models and revenue -- Legal issues in the production, dissemination, and use of the journal literature -- What is publishing in the future? -- What constitutes a publication in the digital environment? -- Symposium wrap-up.