To increase the running speed of paper machines and printing presses researchers have focused their attention on problems related both to the vibration and stability of travelling paper web. This paper presents a four-node Mindlin-Reissner type plate bending element for the analysis of an axially travelling paper web. To avoid locking in the case of thin plates, the paper applies two shear correction techniques both in frequency analysis and transient dynamic analysis. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.