Meet any science publisher, ask about electronic publishing, and — unless they know you well — witness self-restraint in action. They won't weep about copious red ink on their balance sheets. Nor will they tell you of the wee-small-hours-of-the-morning worries they have that scientists might just gain the copyright on their material. They will be tight-lipped on the obstacles to finding a perfect customizable search engine; the difficulties in turning publication into a seamless electronic interaction between authors, editors, referees and readers; the challenge of serving libraries electronically without losing subscription revenues; and the frustrating reluctance of many authors to accept that a purely electronic publication is worth anything at all.

Gradually, these problems and obstacles of perception are being overcome, while the naivety of those who believed publishing companies have no more role to play is becoming ever more clear. Moreover, although no one could describe electronic publishing as anything like mature, its huge potential for flexible and prompt delivery at affordable prices worldwide, combined with hypertext linkage between journals, is still a siren call to providers and users everywhere.

Nature's own website (www.nature.com) has been in operation since March 1996, and is visited more than 300,000 times per week. But over recent months, users will have noticed an important development: the introduction, on a test basis, of the full content of Nature. This issue marks the launch of the next stage in our website development: a new design, new ‘web-only’ content, and the availability of the full contents of Nature to all personal subscribers free of any additional charge. All that they have to do is to register online, supplying their subscriber number.

As well as our full printed content, subscribers will have access to web-only additional features that include in-depth software reviews, carried out by active researchers, articles discussing the web as a medium of scientific communication, and moderated debates on topics that may be purely scientific, or which may encompass a broader scope.

But Nature's presence on the web is very much part of the development of the journal as a whole, rather than an adjunct to the printed version, and subscribers will benefit accordingly in a number of additional ways.

First, promptness in delivery. From 00.01 GMT every Thursday, the latest issue of Nature will now be available to subscribers no matter where in the world they are, or how efficient (or otherwise) their postal services. Second, interactivity: readers can adjust how they look at web pages, they can respond immediately to what they are reading, and we can quickly react to that response.

Third, the value of our scientific papers is considerably enhanced as well. Unlike any other journal, for example, direct links from references in Nature papers to publications across all disciplines are now available thanks to arrangements with both Medline and the Institute of Scientific Information; and very soon, NASA will be included as well. Additional content is more readily available: Nature has a policy of allowing authors to refer to pieces of Supplementary Information — text, audio and video — which are too large or impractical to be published in the printed journal, but which are made available by us on request. On Nature's website, such information will now be integrated into the electronic version of the paper.

We know that we have subscribers for whom Nature is not only their favourite journal, it is the best. For them, from today, the world's best scientific journal in print is also the world's best scientific journal on the web.

Philip Campbell (Editor), Christopher Surridge (Web Editor)