Cell and Molecular Biology (AJRCMB), as of January 2011, the journal became an electronic-only publication and will no longer appear in print. As with any precipitous change of this nature, there certainly are a number of questions raised by the readership that should be addressed. The first is probably ‘‘why now’’? This is an issue that has been discussed for several years by the ATS Publications Policy Committee, Board of Directors, the office and editorial staff, etc., and was a major part of my ‘‘vision’’for the red journal when I applied for the editorship in 2008. As most of the readership also is well aware, the Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society (‘‘PATS’’or the ‘‘white journal’’) also went electronic-only during 2010. Basically, it was felt that, within the next few years, a great majority, if not all medical journals, will be available online only, and that we are staying, if not ahead of, at least within the curve. As we look around us, it is clear that paper journals, together with many other print editions (eg, newspapers and magazines), are rapidly and dramatically becoming a thing of the past. Of equal importance, the cost, both economically and environmentally, of the paper publication (and mailing, disposal, and/or recycling) has become prohibitive. A final point has to do with the present lag time between acceptance of a paper and its publication, which, with the limits of the paper journal, had become as much as 9 months for the AJRCMB. Although going online-only will not cause this lag time to disappear instantaneously (the online issues still need to be edited and typeset), each issue will now be increased by 45 pages, allowing several more papers per issue and, together with the word and figure limitations put in place last year that should be apparent in papers now coming out, the lag time will gradually decrease to a more acceptable range, hopefully to a few months or less. From the standpoints of convenience, practicality, economic and environmental responsibility then, the move to an online-only publication makes complete sense. It will allow us to extend the reach of the journal, take advantage of opportunities for better use of color and creative presentation, become more electronically interactive, and environmentally responsible. Although there certainly remains a minority of the membership and readership who prefer paper journals for a variety of reasons, I hope they will be able to see that the benefits outweigh the negatives, and in a short time, I’m sure all readers will easily adjust to the electronic-only journal. As far as how the online version will differ for authors, there are still some issues in flux. For the time being, the present editorial policies such as submission, page charges, and color charges will remain the same as before, as will the word and figure limitations. These policies and charges will be revisited in 6 to 12 months. For the readership, the table of contents, as well as the entire issue each month, will be available through a link to the website that will have been sent to all subscribers along with a reminder that the newest issue is now available. To those who do not have this information, each issue of the AJRCMB will be posted online at http://ajrcmb. atsjournals. org at the beginning of each month. Subscribers may also choose to have an electronic table of contents emailed to them each month. To sign up, please visit www. thoracic. org/journals/index. php and click on ‘‘e-TOC’’under the journal.

For those worried about journal-related metrics like impact factor and number of submissions and scientific standing of the journal, empirical studies have indicated that these factors are not adversely affected by online-only versus journals …