Electronic publishing is the distribution of textual information over computer communications channels for viewing on VDU screens. It has been used increasingly by professionals and academics to connect to single and multiple computer users through electronic mail, bulletin boards and computer conferencing. These have been used at Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh, for on-campus College communications and to link health care lecturers, clinical supervisors, hospital staff and nursing students on clinical placement practice, to an online educational electronic communication and information system. This study is concerned with the organisation and use of electronic publications (EPs) in a college environment. It identifies user requirements and applications of EPs for in-College use, and for remote online use by BA Nursing Studies degree students on clinical placement at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh. It also analyses user behaviour and attitudes, and discusses the implications for health care education. The study concludes that a range of educational and professional benefits for pre and post-qualified nurses arises from the use of EPs. Computer support for nurse education includes EPs for students' clinical placement practice for log notes, study days, personal objectives and nursing procedures. Advantages for cognition, curriculum development, research, and student centred learning are also identified. Research also formalises a possible nursing knowledge base for the use of EPs in the clinical environment, and shows possible applications of EPs within a model of the nursing process.