Abstract
Traces the emergence, in 1983, of STN International, the major online scientific and technical database host, as a joint venture between Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), USA, and Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe (FIZ Karlsruhe), Germany. The service was originally developed from CAS ONLINE. Describes the specific services provided by STN International and the involvement of JICST, in running the STN International service in Japan in parallel to their own JICST Online Information System (JOIS). Describes: the coverage of STN International; technical developments (including provision of full text and images); questions raised about the service’s tax and competitive status and the monopoly and exclusivity of the Chemical Abstracts database; and the controversy surrounding the decision in 1994 to add business files to the service. Notes some pricing issues and the competitors to STN, notably, DIALOG, Questel ORBIT and LEXIS-NEXIS. Concludes that the emergence of CD-ROM and Internet databases will have little significant impact on STN International in the short term.
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