INDUSTRIAL
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ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY PUBLISHED BY THE A M E R I C A N C H E M I C A L SOCIETY W A L T E R J. M U R P H Y , EDITOR
Style Requirements APRILM e discussed editorial11 the field
TI hich the to include in its coverage, emphasizing its desire to print more papers on evaluation of analy tical results, statistical treatment of analytical data, principles and theor) of anal) tical chemistry, and college training of personnel. The & ~ S ~ L Y T I C A LEDITIOK is in position to print all such material promptl) . Rlanuscripts offered for publication differ n idely, not 0111) in scientific value but in their presentation. Some are well I\ ritten, logically de\ eloped, concisel) \\ritten, 1 et gi\ in$ all necessary details. IYhen these manuscripts are typed double space, a i t h nide margins to allow room for directions to the printer, and are accompanied by drawings and photographs from which engral ings can be made without retouching or relettering, the) gladden the editor’s heart. Others, hon ever, fail to meet these specifications, and it is to authors of such papers, as well as to those who have not previously contributed to our pages, that this editorial is directed. T o be of the greatest senice the scientific facts must be presented in a clear, logical readable manner. An important point to be kept in mind in writing any article is the t)pe of reader to be reached. Readers of the A N ~ L Y T\L I CEDITIOX are intelligent scientists, n ho do not need schoolbook directions for laboratory procedure; they do need to be given sufficiently explicit directions so that the) can repeat the work reported, if need be. When a scientist has mork to report in a certain journal-the AK~LYTICAL EDITION or any other-he should familiarize himself with that journal and model his report on particularly good papers published there. A little time devoted to thinking the article through before putting pen to paper will pay dividends in producing a logical, concise, and readable presentation that a\oids repetition j e t gives all the facts. An outline might be set up, for instance, as (1) why the work was done, \Ti th a brief reference to previous M ork, properly documented, (2) a concise account of what was done, M ith all necessary details as to apparatus, reagents, and procedure follo\F ed, and (3) the result of the investigation and conclusions drann.
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I XN~LYTICALEDITIONshould endeax or
h short abstract that can be printed at the beginning of the article is a great help to the busy reader, as it enables him to decide a t once nhether to read the article in full then and there, to la) it aside for later attention, or to skip it as outside his field of interest. Too man) manuscripts give the impression that the author has dictated a chronological account of v h a t he has done in the laboratory or-\\ orse-has asked his secretar) to cops hand-n ritten notes and then has failed to read the maiiuscript over and check it for accurac) . A good secretary n ill take care of misspelled TI ords and punctuation, but cannot aln ays interpret carelessl) \T ritten figures or chemical terms. Footnotes are too often an indication of slopp) thinking. The material there given might better be incorporated in the text or perhaps presented in a separate note. Literature citations should be carefully checked for accuracy and completeness. I n - D u s r R I i L AI\ID EKGIXEERIKG CHEmsrRY prints them a t the end of each article, arranged alphabetically b) authors, and TI ith corresponding numbers inserted in the text a t appropriate places. The abbresiatioiis used are given in the “List of Periodicals Abstracted bs Chemical Abstracts”. The spelling and nomenclature approved by the SocImY’s Committee on Nomenclature, Spelling, and Pronunciation are followed. This subject has been recent11 discussed in the introduction to the 1945 subject index to Chemical Abstracts. The llerriam ebster dictionary is f o l l o ~ e das the authorit) for deciding on the spelling of nontechnical *ords. Specifications and directions for preparing copy, including illustrations, are gi\ en in “Suggestions to Authors”, copies of \Thich nil1 be sent on request to any \rho are interested. A summar) is printed on page 340 of this issue. Having a definite bearing on the question of the preparation of chemical papers is what seems to be a regrettable lack of cooperation between the departments of chemistry and of English in most of our colleges and universities. If the ability to write a clear, concise report is not developed during the college course, it is acquired only with diEcult) after graduation. Is not this a subject that should be given greater consideration by our chemical educators3 279
