This paper is a companion to an earlier report on the role of electronic preprints in physics and astronomy [1]. Brown reports a lesser degree of use of electronic preprints by chemists than by physicists and astronomers. However, the use of this service is increasing. The number of preprints submitted to the service increased by 67 percent in nine months during 2001. The primary repository of chemistry preprints is ChemWeb’s Chemistry Preprint Service (CPS). It is sponsored by Elsevier, a publisher of scientific books and journals. The purpose of the electronic preprint service is to foster open discussion of the submitters’ papers. Readers can make comments on a bulletin board. The openness of the electronic repository and bulletin board facilitates the discussions that would otherwise have taken place much more laboriously, using the traditional practices of printing, mailing, and individual correspondence.

The central questions of Brown’s study were on the acceptance of the service by chemists, and by editors who would eventually receive the improved manuscripts. Physical chemists were the most frequent users, perhaps because of the acceptability of the physics and astronomy preprint services (which are not sponsored by a publisher, but rather by Los Alamos National Laboratory and Stanford University). Most editors of print journals would reject papers that had been posted on the CPS as having been previously published. This is the policy of the journals of the American Chemical Society, the publisher of many of the most highly regarded journals. Ironically, it was also the attitude of the editors of the Elsevier journals who responded. Many publishers likewise rejected the use of electronic preprints as citations in papers, because of their lack of peer review, and because of their ephemeral nature as items on Web sites that can easily disappear. It is unfortunate that only 28 percent of the editors of print journals bothered to respond. Brown discovered that preprints that generate high interest, substantial discussion, and high ratings by readers eventually found their way into the print literature.

This is an interesting report, which raises a number of issues that have since been addressed at the ChemWeb site. The CPS does not hold the copyright. It is merely a medium for dissemination, and the author retains the copyright. When the paper is submitted to a topical category, the CPS provides a list of journals that will accept a paper posted on the CPS. This list is not disclosed until the submitter posts his or her paper. After the paper has been accepted for publication, the link to the preprint is redirected to the publisher’s site, from which readers may download or purchase a copy.