The actual research has long been international and Nordic researchers work at global level, often in international networks. They also regularly co-publish along with colleagues from other countries and use English as the academic language.

"For some reason, publicity about Nordic research has been remarkably local though," explains Nina Kristiansen, editor of forskning.no and co-editor of ScienceNordic for the next two years.

American and British media and institutions currently dominate the scene when it comes to spreading news and information about research. They have greater resources and a natural advantage in terms of language, so journalists all over the world write stories about American research findings.

"The findings generated by Nordic research are equally good and equally newsworthy. There has been a knowledge gap in the market, and we aim to plug it," says Vibeke Hjortlund, editor of Videnskab.dk.

"ScienceNordic will prioritise disciplines in which the Nordic countries stand out or have a particularly positive record, e.g. alternative energy, the climate, the environment, oil, biotechnology, gender equality and the economics of the welfare state," Kristiansen adds.

ScienceNordic covers all five Nordic countries, as well as Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Åland. Videnskab.dk and forskning.no have received seed funding for ScienceNordic from Nordforsk, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research and the Danish Ministry of Education. The web address is http://sciencenordic.com/

Vibeke Hjortlund, editor, Videnskab.dk E-mail: vh@videnskab.dk Telephone +45 4050 7765

Nina Kristiansen, editor, forskning.no E-mail: nina@forskning.no Telephone +47 4145 5513