For many years now, the transmission of information has been made easier by new information technology. The scientific community is questioning the role of scientific journals and their publishers.

Indeed, scientific journals are vestiges of the past and scientific editors profiteers feeding off public funds, aren’t they ? It is in the interest of researchers, the scientific community, institutions and the general public to clearly identify their expectations and to confront them with the economic and technical reality of the day. It is also necessary to examine this question in terms of the global efficiency of the scientific publishing system, both in the short and the long term.

Certain questions arise from this debate:

• What is the purpose of a scientific journal for scientific researchers, institutions or scientific communities ?
• Do we get the same result ?
• Do we know the real cost of standardized production ?
• What has the publisher’s role become today confronted by these challenges ?

EDP Sciences has organised a conference to try to address these questions:

Thursday 7th June 2007 at 4.30pm
Salon de la Recherche et de l’Innovation
Paris – Porte de Versailles – Hall 7.1

The contributors at the conference:

• Daniel CHARNAY (CNRS),
• Denis JEROME (Member of the « Académie des Sciences »),
• Nicole PINHAS (INSERM)
• Jean-Marc QUILBE (Managing Director, EDP Sciences).

Press contact:
Anne-Marie BOUTELLER - Tel : 33.(0)6.61.73.49.67 - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
EDP Sciences - 17 avenue du Hoggar - Z.A. de Courtabœuf - BP112 - 91944 Les Ulis Cedex - France