Electronic publication of scientific papers has greatly increased the global audience of research activities. Open access initiatives also have a great impact and they will change the scholar communication for the coming years. But most of these efforts are based on the old model of paper based journals with a peer-review of the formal and almost final version of the research results. There are several shortcomings linked to the traditional editorial process that can be overcome in the electronic (Web) arena but those have not been confronted yet.

Limitations of edition in paper are clearly linked to the costs of producing and distributing the issues. That means that only final results and, furthermore, with an economic format (short, not detailed, one language, without color photographs) will be published. A wide range of scientist activities, including informal ones, and especially the whole process conducing to the results and the access to the raw data used, are excluded. As shown with the current evolution of the so-called Journals 2.0, a modern view should provide an extension of peer review (designed referees combined with open review) or improved access to additional material (including new media). However, the journal centered model is not longer valid and current evaluation needs suggest focusing more on the user.

The Web indicators are designed not only to monitor the presence and impact of an individual or an organization in the webspace but to promote a more open, global, close to the society, and detailed knowledge of the scientists' organization, activities and results. The proposal is to measure the Personal or Institutional Page 2.0 of an academic or research unit, including indicators of activity (number of webpages, documents or papers), impact (invocation, link visibility, pagerank, "sitation" analysis) or usage (popularity, traffic).