At various times since the first issue of the American Journal of Physiology was published in 1898, the American Physiological Society has responded to developments in physiology by starting new journals, buying an existing journal, and establishing sections within journals. Now, specialization within physiology demands further modification to clearly defined specialty journals. The pressures that caused this action to be taken are described, as well as the options considered and the implementation of the final plan. The publications program being developed is one that should serve the specialists within the field without penalizing generalists or librarians.

Nonprofit organizations are established to perform a function of benefit to society, which would otherwise not be carried out or would need to be undertaken by the government. Although such organizations receive certain tax exemptions and do not provide a profit for their members, any undertaking that they become involved in must b e fiscally viable. In such nonprofit organizations, publications recover some costs from authors (primarily from author's institutions or granis) by levying page charges, manuscript submission fees, alteretion charges, and extra service charges, and through the sale of reprints. The bases for such charges are examined, as well as the percentage of income that they provide for several nonprofit journals. The conclusion reached is that a system of financing that spreads the recovery of costs equitably among various sources is desirable. It provides a nonprofit operation which, by its very nature, cannot build large reserves with the flexibility to shift the proportion contributed by the various sources if income from any particular source declines.