A Battle Lost
The notice of a subscription rate increase for the Journal which appears on page 416 is our formal capitulation to the onslaught of inflation. It might he instructive to describe the basis for this decision, reluctantly made with a great deal of introspection by those who are responsible for such recommendations as well as by those who are authorized to approve them. Fundamentally, Journal revenue comes from two major sources: subscriptions and advertising. Advertising income is usually subjected to the vageries of economic factors perceived to be important by advertisers; even with the outstanding advertising managers which the Journal emolovs it is difficult to maintain the income flow expected for this Journal by advertising experts. The largest fraction of the Journal revenues comes from subscriptions. There are also several relatively minor sources of revenue such as book sales, reprints, and interest on investments, but these are not significant in comparison with the income from subscriptions and advertising. On the other hand Journal expenses are dominated by factors associated with printing and subscription fulfillment; a relatively minor expense is incurred in the editorial office and the office of the publication coordinator. Thus we are faced with balancing a revenue, part of which we have no control over, against expenses, nearly all of which reflect perceived current economic pressures. For example, paper costs increased several times in 1979 alone; printing costs, which include materials, labor and indirect expenses, have increased on a regular basis. Composition costs, which depend upon the cost of silver involved in the modern phototypsetting processes used to produce the Journal, are now being analyzed and quoted on a monthly basis; an indication of the escalation of photocomposition costs can be obtained from the price of silver which was $6.00 per ounce in January 1979 and reached a high of $50.00 per ounce less than a year later. The price of film products used in the graphic arts industry increased 158%during the same period. Too, the re-
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cently announced proposed postage rate increase was not anticipated-at least in candid private conversations with some postal authorities-for several years from now. Each of these items relating to the cost of getting an issue of the Journal to a subscriber, although small, adds up to a sizable budget increment, but, most importantly, they cannot be controlled by the Board of Publications, the Editor, or the Publications Coordinator. In the past we have been able, occasionally, to absorb some increases by various devices such as using a lower quality paper, or not hiring the "extra typist." Unfortunately such "savings" slowly deteriorate the physical quality of a publication and cause unprofessional delays in manuscript processing. Because they become less effective in keeping costs down and lead to a product with-decreased quality, such actions become counterproductive. It is a t this point that the decision was made, reluctantly, to increase the subscription rate starting on 1July 1980. The new rate of $15.00 per year is twice that established in 1975, essentially equivalent to the inflation rate over a five-year period, and is similar to the increases instituted for other journals of comparable quality. These economic problems intrude on the intellectual process of creating a publication designed to he maximally useful to the chemical commmunity-practicing chemists, teachers a t all levels, and their students. We shall continue to produce a journal that is a monthly meeting place for those interested in learning something about our subject and those who have something to teach or to share. We sincerely hope that the subscription increase will not diminish the number of subscribers. The loss of each subscriber makes our job more difficult; not only from a financial point of view, but, perhaps more importantly, we lose an important component in the link between those who want to learn and those who have something to teach. Markedly diminishing either of these groups adversely affects the basis for our existence. JJL
Volume 57, Number 6, June 1980 / 393
