Cooperation among journals: A European vantage point

The European Association of Editors of Biological Periodicals (ELSE), which emerged from Council of Biology Editors´ beginnings, was founded to promote and assist in raising the quality of journals in Europe. Besides dealing with specific problems of writing in English by scientists for whom English to a foreign language, ELSE is concerned with primary-secondary journal relationships, with the smoother integration of journals from smaller non-English speaking countries into the international information system, and with overcoming the time lag due to technical and psychological reasons. Despite cries about increasing economic limitations, there has been a proliferation of journals, societies, guides, and practices. Cooperation in the way of seeking uniformity while preserving individual character, providing redactory services, identifying referees, standardizing, and developing new systems of information transfer is discussed. The First International Conference of Scientific Editors is introduced.