In two years, HighWire Press at Stanford University (California) has revolutionized online scientific publishing; electronic journals are reaching readers faster, are easier to search, and are entering new foreign markets. The largest scientific publishers will put about 200 journals online in 1997. Other changes foreseen include immediate rather…

Challenged by rising production costs, competition from computer software, and demands for better teaching, publishers, authors, and higher education officials are examining ways to improve textbooks. Publishers don't want to invest as much, students don't want to pay so much, and many faculty want to get back to good teaching. (MSE)

A group of 36 campus administrators, publishers, librarians, and association leaders have identified nine principles to radically change the scholarly publishing system, seen as necessary due to the continuing escalation of prices and volume. Principles focus on creating alternatives to high-cost journals, de-emphasizing publication quantity in…

Many corporations have stopped giving unrestricted gifts to colleges, preferring to support college activities relating to their own businesses. The trend is causing substantial changes in the direction of private-college fund-raising efforts and organizations. (MSE)

Hundreds of companies are beginning drives to prepare "at-risk" schoolchildren for higher education and eventually pay their tuition, a major change in emphasis from recent corporate giving patterns. (MSE)

One researcher mixes techniques of anthropological field work and statistical analysis in his studies of the cultural dimensions of business negotiation in different countries. (MSE)

A research network called the European Institute of Technology will be created by major European technology companies. The institute will seek to encourage greater collaboration among academic and industrial researchers in Europe by financing research in fields relevant to long-term needs of sponsoring companies. (MLW)

Increasingly, individuals, foundations, and corporations are donating money to colleges and universities for environmental research and education, Some are concerned about potential for conflict of interest in the competitive fund-raising arena, and use of donations to improve corporate public images. Others feel existing safeguards are adequate…

The Supreme Court will not hear an appeal by a software publisher suing the University of California at Los Angeles for copying its computer programs, upholding state rights in copyright law. However, federal legislation paving the way for such suits in the future is being drafted. (MSE)

An independent bookseller is suing two branches of the State University of New York to obtain copies of professors' required reading lists, claiming a right to them under state public records law. The institutions say any such lists are property of legally separate college bookstores, managed by a large publisher. (MSE)

Corporations increased their giving to schools, colleges, and universities in 1993 by the biggest margin in four years, with the increase outpacing inflation. However, some warn that this should not be interpreted as a return to widespread corporate giving. Donations in 1994 are likely to increase only slightly, if at all. (MSE)

A follow-up study by officials of the Council for Aid to Education uncovered a major error in the Internal Revenue Service's 1987 corporate-contributions data. The new figures, representing contributions from 1986 to 1989, reflect a continued but less dramatic growth in corporate philanthropy. (MLW)

Electronic publishing creates challenges for traditional publishers and their library customers. Librarians call for an end to high prices for electronic publications and more flexibility in copying and distributing documents. Library consortia are forced to sign million-dollar deals for access to all of a publisher's on-line journals. Publishers…

When the University of Arkansas' president determined that the university's press should be shut down due to financial losses, journalists, letter writers, faculty, and editors at other university presses undertook a successful campaign to save it. The debate highlights the economic difficulties of academic publishing and the role of the…

Scholars are finding that articles they have posted on the World Wide Web are subsequently being refused by journals. Policies among publishers vary widely on this issue. Journal editors fear posting on the Web will erode the system of peer review, and that important papers disseminated on the Internet will reduce scholars' need to read their…