John R. Sampey Furman University
Greenville, southCarolina
Maintaining and Sustaining Chemical Publications in Liberal Arts Colleges
Several studies on chemical research in liberal arts colleges have established the fact that the hulk of such activity is concentrated in a few institutions.l.2 A check on Chemical Abstracts for the decade, 1952-1961, reveals that 63 or one-fourth of the 258 colleges with publications abstracted by this key to the world's chemical literature account for 1057 abstracts-or three-fourths of the publications come from these institutions. A fact which has not been established heretofore is the extreme difficulty even those 63 most prolific liberal arts colleges have experienced in maintaining a continuous flow of publications. Only seven liberal arts SAMPEY, J. R., J. CEEM.EDUC.,37,316 (1960). SAMPEY, J. R., Furman Studies, Furman Univ. Bulletin 9, 3 , 1 5 4 (1962). a
colleges in the country published at least one article each year during the decade. Equally striking is the observation that one-third of these most publicationcouscious institutions failed to have an abstract appear in CA during five of the ten years. The 45 liberal arts colleges which had abstracts published during five or more years of the decade, 1952-61, are listed in the table. Several limitations, undoubtedly operate to reduce the number of publications from liberal arts colleges. The f i s t is that a number of teachers in these colleges collaborate with colleagues in government agencies like Oak Ridge and the National Institutes of Health and with researchers in industrial laboratories or universities; but the publications which result from this joint effort often carry the address only of these better known research centers.
Volume 39, Number 1 1, November 1962
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Two other limitations result from the way C A operates. Not all abstracts carry addresses of the authors: a check of issue No. 1 of the 1960 volume of CA showed that authors' addresses were missing from 1,060 abstracts, or 25% of the 4,215 present. The second limitation results from the inability of C A to cover all the borderline fields of biology, medicine, physics, engineering, etc. A final disturbing limitation arises from the possibility that abstracts from liberal arts colleges may have been inadvertently missed in the checking of more than one million abstracts published during the decade, 1952-61. The writer has kept worksheets giving the names of the institutions which were tabulated in this study, and he welcomes the opportunity
to check with any who find that one or more references have been m i ~ s e d . ~ The College Blue Book, 9th edition (1959) has been used to determine the liberal arts status of the colleges; institutions which grant the Pb.D. degree in the physical sciences, or which possess professional schools of agriculture, engineering, medicine, pharmacy and other applied sciences are not classed as liberal arts. 3 Since the above was written, volume 56 of Chemical Abslracla, which covers the first half of 1962, has been checked for contributions from liberal arts colleges. Eighty-one colleges account for 156 publications--almost as good a showing as that achieved during the whole of 1961 when 89 colleges had 169 abstracts in CA. Liberal ark colleees are enterins the field of chemied publications a t a more explosive rate than previous performances would indicate.
Liberal Arts Colleaes with the Most Consistent Record of Publications in CA for 1952-61. '60
Institution Brooklyn College Amherst Furman Antioch DePaul Mount Holyoke Canisius Pomona. Carson-Newman Reed Oberlin Hmerford Wesleyan (Conn.) Queens lhk Providence
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Cslvin --..--
Florida Southern Richmond Mt. Mercy (Pa.) vassar Holy Crass Franklin Marshall Miami (Ohio) Morgan State Wooster Carleton Trinity (Tex.) DePauw
Fresno ~ t k e St. Joseph (Md.) Marshall Bethany (W. Va.) Trinity (Conn.) Wabash Wellesley Coll. of St. Thomas Monmouth Wheaton Xavier (Ohio) Maryerest St. Ambrose
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Questions for New Physical Chemistry Exam Solicited The Examinations Committee of the Division of Chemical Education is planning to construct n new examination for undergraduate physical chemistry. Collsborators to submit new questions are needed. Interested teachers are asked to submit each proposed question, together with its five multiple-choice amwen, on 8.4- X 5411. index card with the correct answer indicated. A style sheet may be obtained from Dr. F. D. Martin, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana. Questions should be submitted to Dr. H. E. Wilcox, Ohio Wedeyan University, Delaware, Ohio, before December 10, 1962.
586
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Journal of ~hemicol'~dvcaiia~
'61
Totals
