SETTING THE SCENE: I was wakened this morning by my computer gently vibrating the bed, and rushed to the Web to see if my paper submitted last week had been published. I knew that it had not been vetted by the editor and was awaiting approval by the board of reviewers. Sure enough, I found it alive in the pages of my favourite e-journal; time- stamped with today's date, unable to be withdrawn but open to comments from others and able to be updated. I had just started to read the first comments from an American academic in another discipline when an e-bill arrived with the page costs. It was small compared to the price of subscription to the old paper-based version of the journal, and I would forward it on to my employer in any case -- I'm glad President Barry Jones increased science funding in the last Budget.