7.5.3.1 Technical journals 

Of particular importance for examiners are online technical journals from scientific publishers (e.g. IEEE, Springer, Derwent). Their reliability is the same as that of traditional paper journals, i.e. very high.

It should be noted that the internet publication of a particular issue of a journal may be earlier than the date of publication of its paper version. What is more, some journals pre-publish on the internet manuscripts which have been submitted to them but have not yet been published in a paper issue, and in some cases before they have even been approved for paper publication (e.g. the "Geophysics" journal). If the journal then does not approve the manuscript for publication, this pre-publication of the manuscript may be the only disclosure of its content. Examiners must also remember that the pre-published manuscript may differ from the final, published version.

Where the given publication date of an online journal publication is too vague (e.g. only the month and year is known), and the most pessimistic possibility (the last day of the month) is too late, the examiner may request the exact publication date. The request can be made directly using an online contact form offered by the publisher or via the EPO library.