The idea : This site is conceived as a rapid means of communication among
surface scientists, a gateway always on line and updated to the latest developments
in the field. It is not meant to replace conventional journals, but to complement
them, providing at the same time an inexpensive "window" on the field,
especially useful for those of us who do not work in rich countries and therefore
do not have access to a well stocked library.
Our policy. This site is not refereed, we believe that the traditional peer review process is not compatible with the characteristics of speed and continuous updating of internet documents. We only reserve the right not to list any material that in our opinion is outside the field of surface science or anyway unacceptable from a scientific viewpoint. Commercial information is included here free of charge as a service for the scientific community. The listing of companies in this site does not imply an endorsement of their products.
Copyright notice. The question of copyright in the web is the object of a hot debate at present. You may read some interesting speculation on the future development of cyberspace publishing in many locations, for instance by Eric Drexler. and by Esther Dyson and others. Nevertheless, there is no agreement on how exactly copyright in the web should be intended, and what the appropriate etiquette should be. No matter how one thinks, however, it is obvious that putting a published paper up for downloading in any form is - at the very least - unfair to the publisher, and definitely something that should not be done. However, it should be all right to publish in the web a new and original version of your results, even though part of the data may have already appeared in a conventional journal. Anyway, we cannot check all the material linked to this site, so it is the responsibility of the authors to comply with the current copyright laws.
Background for this page: STM image of the Si(111) - 7x7 surface, courtesy of Jim Quinn and Franco Jona.