AGU's strategy in electronic publication has been to seek opportunities that truly exploit the new medium and thereby provide real added value. In partnership with several closely related societies, AGU is embarking on a new venture that fits this strategy; together we will soon launch a new, totally electronic journal called Earth Interactions. This journal will provide much more than a visual representation of the printed page on a computer screen. It will provide authors with the means of using computer animations and other visualization techniques that cannot be accommodated by traditional publications, as well as providing direct links to parent data. Plans call for other ways in which the electronic medium will enhance the information transfer of the articles selected for the journal. Earth Interactions, dedicated to interdisciplinary Earth system science, will be peer-reviewed and produced to the same high standards AGU has set for its print journals. Articles will be submitted in electronic form, and the journal will be available only in electronic form.

The American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the Association of American Geographers (AAG) will join AGU as copublishers of the new journal. The Ecological Society of America and the Oceanography Society will be cooperating societies in this project. We expect to gain significantly from this collaboration in terms of the breadth of coverage in the journal and the pooled experience in using the new technology for serious publication. We believe that members of all involved societies will benefit from this cooperative approach. For example, the techniques tested and established for Earth Interactions can be used as a foundation for moving other AGU journals to the electronic medium or creating electronic journals in other topics of concern to the AGU membership.

AGU's council approved the proposal to the new journal in December 1994. That proposal grew out of two years of investigation and planning by representatives of the five societies operating in three working groups. NASA's program Mission to Planet Earth was very supportive during the feasibility discussions and has provided developmental funding. AGU's Publications, Information Technology, and Budget and Finance committees reviewed the proposal prior to its presentation to Council and were unanimous in their endorsement.

The three copublishers, AGU, AMS, and AAG, are moving ahead with the establishment of the journal. There will be opportunities for AGU members to participate in the editorial process or on the technical or publication policy advisory panels. If you have an interest in being involved, send an e-mail message to jholovial@agu.org and/or jorcutt@igpp.ucsd.edu. Those interested in submitting papers should watch for details on submissions, which will be announced in Eos and through the Earth Interactions homepage now under development.

This is an exciting venture for the Union, one that all members will want to follow and, we trust, will point to with pride.

John Orcutt, Publication Committee, Chairman
Judy Holoviak, Director, Publications