This week saw the launch of PJOnline, the electronic version of The Pharmaceutical Journal (see p414). Quite where this will take The Journal remains to be seen. Although the new service will be based on the printed publication, PJOnline will undoubtedly develop a life of its own. The first signs of this independence of spirit is the offering of a daily news service (albeit written by PJ journalists) which we hope will give readers a good reason to visit the site regularly. Other developments will follow.
The introduction of electronic publication is having as profound an effect on publishing as the invention of the printing press. The amount of information that is immediately available to people with the appropriate accessing systems is already enormous and growing at an immeasurable rate. In the face of such an explosion, users of the information will need to be assured of the quality of the material presented to them. The PJ brand has been a sign of quality in the age of paper. It will continue to be so in the electronic age.