SPEED O F ABSTRACTING AND COUNTRY O F ORIGIN O F ABSTRACTS PUBLISHED IN SECTION 8 (MINERALOGICAL AND GEOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY) OF "CHEMICAL ABSTRACTS'' B Y MICHAEL FLEISCHER U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C.
Data on speed of abstracting and country of origin of the chemical l i t e r a t u r e a r e scanty. Crane and Heumannl gave p e r c e n t a g e s f o r countries of origin of p a p e r s published in Chemical A b s t r a c t s f o r 1956 and f o r eleven other y e a r s back t o 1909. P e r h a p s s i m i l a r f i g u r e s f o r the l a s t few y e a r s f o r Section 8 of Chemical A b s t r a c t s will be of i n t e r e s t . It should be emphasized that our f i g u r e s should not be construed to be r e p r e s e n t a t i v e of the whole field of c h e m i s t r y . T h e r e a r e many r e a s o n s f o r believing that Section 8 , Mineralogical and Geological C h e m i s t r y , i s not r e p r e s e n tative. It i s , of c o u r s e , a b o r d e r l i n e f i e l d , which r e p r e s e n t s a combination of l a b o r a t o r y work with field s t u d i e s , Publication i s t h e r e f o r e f a r m o r e s c a t t e r e d geographically than that of purely l a b o r a t o r y r e s e a r c h , a s shown by the f a c t that in 1960 Section 8 c a r r i e d a b s t r a c t s of 3764 p a p e r s published in 65 different countries. These w e r e published in hundreds of j o u r n a l s and in numerous government publications, m o s t of which a p p e a r i r r e g u l a r l y ; Section 8 r e p r e s e n t s approximately 15 p e r cent. of the geological l i t e r a t u r e , s o that coverage of the l i t e r a t u r e of chemical i n t e r e s t in this field i s difficult. SPEED O F ABSTRACTING It would be d e s i r a b l e t o iiave f i g u r e s on the t i m e in weeks o r months that elapse between the actual date a p a p e r a p p e a r s and the a b s t r a c t of it i s in p r i n t . At b e s t this would be an e x t r e m e l y laborious t a s k , and f o r many j o u r n a l s it i s i m p o s s i b l e ; the stated date of i s s u e i s quite often m o n t h s , and f o r some j o u r n a l s y e a r s e a r l i e r than the actual date of i s s u e . T h e r e f o r e I have tabulated only a c o m p a r i s o n of the y e a r of publication of the a b s t r a c t a s compared t o the ,date of i s s u e . A volume m a r k e d "1958 (published 1960)" i s counted a s being published in 1960, but one m a r k e d "1958," and quite p o s sibly published in 1960, i s counted a s published in 1958. Most a b s t r a c t s a r e published by Chemical A b s t r a c t s one month a f t e r being received f r o m 'E. J. Crane and K. F. Heumann, "CA Measures a Nation's.Research," Chem. Eng. News, Aug. 5, p. 64-66 (1958).
the a b s t r a c t o r , Ideally this means publication two t o t h r e e months a f t e r the journal becomes available to the a b s t r a c t o r . The l a s t i s s u e of Chemical A b s t r a c t s goes t o p r e s s about Octob e r 20 e a c h y e a r , which m e a n s that about 25 p e r cent. of U. S. publications and perhaps 40 p e r cent. of foreign publications cannot be a b s t r a c t e d during the calendar y e a r of i s s u e . Under ideal conditions, then, Table I might show 60 p e r cent. of a b s t r a c t s published i n the s a m e calendar y e a r a s the p a p e r a p p e a r e d , 30 p e r c e n t a b s t r a c t e d during the following c a l e n d a r y e a r , and 1 0 p e r cent. two calendar y e a r s l a t e r . The table shows a v e r y different p i c t u r e ; the difference f r o m the ideal might be taken a s a m e a s u r e of the effort needed t o speed a b stracting. TABLE I Comparison of Calendar Year of Publication of Abstract with that of the Article (by per cent,of total) 1960 1959
1958
1957 1956
1955
Total number of abstracts
3764 3622
3069 2908
2065
1998
Article dated same year
25.5
27.8
26.3
22.6
30.8
22.5
Article dated preceding year
49.5
51.0
52.1
58.0
48.8
46.6
Article dated two years previous
14.3
12.4
13.4
12.1
14.3
18.3
Article dated three years previous
8.6
5.2
4.7
4.1
3.9
4.1
Article dated more than three years previous
2.1
3.6
3.5
3.2
2.2
7.9
It i s likely that the t i m e lag of publishing a b s t r a c t s i s g r e a t e r f o r Section 8 than f o r other sections of Chemical A b s t r a c t s b e c a u s e of the geographical locations of the j o u r n a l s and b e cause many of t h e s e publications, obtained by exchange, do not a r r i v e in the United States until m o n t h s , o r even y e a r s , a f t e r publication. This has been p a r t i a l l y alleviated by recruiting a b s t r a c t o r s abroad (for example, in J a p a n , Poland, and Czechoslovakia). Nothing can be done, of c o u r s e , about the apparent delay
ORlGIN AND ABSTRACTING S P E E D O F GEOLOGICAL PAPERS
37
i n Section 8 , and gives f o r c o m p a r i s o n the f i g u r e s of C r a n e and Heumann f o r a l l of Chemical A b s t r a c t s i n 1956. The f i g u r e s f o r Section 8 a r e not c o n s i s t e n t in that those f o r 1959 and 1960 a r e by the a u t h o r s ' c o u n t r i e s , w h e r e a s the p r e v i o u s t h r e e y e a r s a r e by country of publication. A check covering about 20 p e r cent.of 1957 indicated that the d i f f e r e n c e s w e r e m i n o r . The f i g u r e s f o r any one y e a r should not be taken too s e r i o u s l y . They a r e affected by the publication of l a r g e s y m p o s i a ( s e e Canada, 1958) and, r e g r e t t a b l y , by the f a c t that a b s t r a c t o r s s o m e t i m e s fall behind in t h e i r a s s i g n m e n t s . F o r e x a m p l e , i n 1956 t h e r e w e r e backlogs i n the a b s t r a c t i n g of s e v e r a l U . S. and J a p a n e s e j o u r n a l s , which w e r e l a r g e l y c l e a r e d up in 1957. It i s believed, however, that the o v e r - a l l p i c t u r e i s significant, but even t h i s i s complicated by t h e f a c t that c o v e r a g e h a s i m p r o v e d o v e r the f i v e - y e a r p e r i o d shown.
c a u s e d by t h e a c t u a l date of i s s u e being long a f t e r the published date of i s s u e . The d a t a i n Table I show that the p e r c e n t age of p a p e r s abstra.cted during the s a m e plus the .following c a l e n d a r y e a r h a s ranged f r o m 69.1 t o 80.6 p e r cent:. The d e c r e a s e during t h e p a s t few y e a r s c a n f a i r l y be a t t r i b u t e d t o the l a r g e i n c r e a s e i n a b s t r a c t s f r o m publications of t h e U.S.S.R.; i t ha.s actually r e q u i r e d a m a j o r e f f o r t t o p r e v e n t the p e r c e n t a g e f r o m dropping f u r t h e r as the n u m b e r of p a p e r s in languages r e a d by few Deople in the United States h a s inc r lased.
COUNTRY O F ORIGIN O F P A P E R S ABSTRACTED T a b l e I1 s u m m a r i z e s d a t a f o r t h e t e n l e a d ing c o u n t r i e s that co'ntribute p a p e r s a b s t r a c t e d
TABLE I1 Country of Origin of Papers Abstracted in Section 8 (authors' countries in 1960 and 1959; country of publication other years) All Chemical Abstracts'
Section 8 1960
1959
1958
1957
1956
1956
No.
Dercent.
No.
Percent.
No.
Percent,
No.
Percent,
No.
U.S. S. R
1475
39.2
1112
30.7
816
26.6
542
18.6
251
12.4
13.5
U. S. A.
622
16.5
584
16.1
482
15.7
579
19.9
42 0
20.3
28.4
193
5.1
242
6.I
178
5.8
112
5.9
151
I. 3
8.4
Japan
120
3.2
210
I. 5
22 5
I. 3
267
9.2
134
6.5
10.4
Great Britaina
111
2.9
118
3.3
168
5. 5
211
I. 5
132
6.4
9.2
France
91
2.4
116
3.2
106
3.5
118
4.1
90
4.4
6.0
Australia
91
2.4
67
1. d
47
1.5
98
3.4
Not
Not
Czechoslovakia
89
2.4
91
2.5
95
3.1
89
3.1
recorded
recorded
Canada
88
2.3
68
1.9
177
5.8
52
1.8
separately
separately
Poland
78
2.1
125
3.5
97
3.2
26
0.9
All others
786
21.5
829
22.8
618
22.0
148
25.6
Total
3764
100.0
3622
100.0
3069
100.0
2908
100.0
Percent.
Per cent,
Germany (W. and
E. )
881b 2065
42.7
24.1
100.0
100.0
aNot including British Commonwealth or colonies. qncluding Australia, Czechoslovakia, Canada, Poland. 'From Crane and Heumann
It is p r o b a b l e t h a t the o v e r - a l l r a t e of growth indicated (about 15 p e r cent. p e r y e a r ) i s a l i t t l e t o o high b e c a u s e of i m p r o v e d c o v e r a g e , and t h a t t h e ratel of growth of publication in t h e U.S.S.R. i s l i k e w i s e somewhat e x a g g e r a t e d for the s a m e reason. Nevertheless, t h e r e can be no doubt that t h e r e h a s b e e n a r e a l and v e r y l a r g e i n c r e a s e i n publication i n t h i s field in t h e U.S.S.R. The c o m p a r i s o n f o r 1956 of t h e f i g u r e s
f o r Section 8 and all of C h e m i c a l A b s t r a c t s shows t h a t the d i s t r i b u t i o n i n Section 8 i s quite d i f f e r ent f r o m t h a t i n c h e m i s t r y a s a whole, so t h a t extrapolations t o o t h e r f i e l d s of c h e m i s t r y a r e not justified. Acknowledgments. I thank D r . E. J . C r a n e and D r . C. L . B e r n i e r of Chemical Abs t r a c t s f o r valuable s u g g e s t i o n s ; they a r e not, of c o u r s e , r e s p o n s i b l e f o r any s t a t e m e n t s i n t h e p a p e r .
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