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Last week's row in Britain about in vitro fertilization is less demanding of attention than the need for all concerned to plan for what the future holds.
With cut-backs in library budgets it is hard to understand why new journals continue to appear. Here Robert Campbell discusses the economics of journal publishing and the prognosis for this part of the scientific literature.
The rise of biotechnology has brought with it a welter of publications all competing to provide rapid information. Julian Davies here surveys the field and comments upon this form of publishing. Further details of the publications are given on pp. 495–496.