As well as being used for data interchange between EPN members, the common format forms the basis of a pulse profile archive presently being maintained at the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie in Bonn. The idea of the archive is to build up a useful collection of pulse profiles which anybody with access to the Internet can use. Presently, around 2500 pulse profiles are stored in this format. The profiles themselves have usually already been, or about to be, published so that full credit for any subsequent use via the database can go to the contributing authors. The archive has the following URL address: http://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/pulsar/data/. Authors are encouraged to make their data available to this archive and should contact Duncan Lorimer (e-mail: dunc@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de) if they wish to do this.
Acknowledgements
We thank the referee, Dick Manchester, for useful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. The EPN was funded under Brussels Human Capital and Mobility grant number CHRX-CT94-0622.