"EPJ direct" was launched as the electronic-only component of The European Physical Journal (EPJ) in 1998. Well before "Open Access" became a major topic in the context of scientific publishing, its intention already then was to explore the readiness of the scientific community to endorse new publishing models. Since then a number of articles have been published using this platform with the PDF full texts being available to everyone worldwide. The historical archive of this journal (until 2003) can be found here.
In mid-2003 "EPJ direct" ceased publication as an independent journal and had been fully integrated into the different sections A-E of The European Physical Journal. "EPJ direct" then stood simply for the free access online-only supplements of the respective section of EPJ. These online-only supplements can easily be found alongside the regular electronic content of the EPJ sections by clicking "e-content" in the respective pull-down menu on the portal.
In mid-2006 the online-only supplements were discontinued and integrated into the regular print and online version of the EPJ journals.