analytical chemistry August 1974, Vol. 46, No. 9 Editor: H E R B E R T A. LAITINEN EDITORIAL HEADQUARTERS 1155 Sixteenth St N.W. Washington, D.C:'20036 Phone. 202-872-4600 Teletype: 710-8220151 Managing Editor: Virginia E. Stewart Associate Editor: Josephine M. Petruzzi Assistant Editor: Andrew A. Husovsky Editorial Assistant: Linda A. Ferragut GRAPHICS A N D PRODUCTION STAFF Manager: Leroy L. Corcoran Associate Manager: Charlotte C. Sayre Art Director: Norman W. Favin Artist: Linda McKnight Editorial Assistant:
Nancy J. Oddenino
EDITORIAL PROCESSING DEPARTMENT, EASTON,PA. Associate Editor: Elizabeth R. Rufe
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ADVWORY BOARD: Allen J.
Bard, Fred Baumann David F. Boltz E. G. Brame, Jr., Warrgn B Crummett M. A. Evenson Henry M. Faies A. F. Gindeis Kennetd W. Gardiner, Jdck M. Gill, JAanette G. Grasselli R. S. Juvet Jr., Theodore Kuwana: Oscar Menis, H'arold F. Walton
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INSTRUMENTATION ADVISORY PANEL: Jonathan W. Amy Stanley R. Crouch Richard A. Durst, j . J. Kirkland, Ronald H. Laessig, M a r v q Margoshes, Harold M. McNair, David Seligson, Howard J. Sloane
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C o n t r i b u t i n g Editor: Claude A. Lucchesi Department of Chemistry, Sorthwestern L-niversity, Evanston, Ill. 60201
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Published by the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 1155 16th Street, N. W. Washington. D.C. 20036
Books a n d J o u r n a l s Division John K Crum Director Ruth Reynard Assistant t o the Director
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Charles R. Bertsch Head, E d i t o r i a l Processing D e p a r t m e n t D. H. Michael Bowen Head, J o u r n a l 8 Department Bacil Guile Head, G r a p h i c s a n d Productfon Department Seldon W. Terrant Head, Research a n d Development D e p a r t m e n t
Advertising Management
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Is the Research Journal Doomed? Recent trends are placing the traditional means of information dissemination and storage through the scientific research journal into jeopardy. T h e increasing specialization and enormous growth of research has caused a proliferation of journals of narrow scope and, correspondingly, the number of specialists interested in a given article have become widely scattered throughout the world. Journals of wide scope are finding a decreasing fraction of their readers interested in a given article. Subscription costs, especially for journals not sponsored by scientific societies but by commercial publishers, have risen to the point that scientists are increasingly depending upon libraries rather than personal subscriptions for their access to the primary literature. Development of copying devices has made it so convenient and inexpensive to reproduce printed material that, despite the copyright laws, publishers are faced with a sort of secondary distribution pathway that is seriously undermining the traditional system. The traditional sources of income, namely subscription charges and reprint sales, have been supplemented for many journals by page charges. ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRYhas, for many years, been almost unique among primary research journals in having a sizeable magazine section carrying advertising. Substantial amounts of feature and review material can be provided in addition to research papers a t a nominal subscription cost without levying page charges. Why can't all research journals do the same? The reason is simply that there is only a relatively fixed amount of total advertising revenue available and, in a free market, it will cluster where experience shows it to be most effective. Our readers are especially interested in methodology and instrumentation, and they regard the advertising matter as well as the research articles important in keeping up-to-date. Many journals will be experimenting with several methods of cutting the costs of the traditional approach. Some of these, including increased use of computer techniques in composition, will not be apparent to the user, whereas others such as microfilm, microfiche, miniprint and individualized reproductions from central storage will depart strongly from tradition. ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY,with its dual character, will retain its traditional format until experiments by other journals clearly indicate advantages to be gained by innovation.
For submission of manuscripts, see page 766 A
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