SCIENTIFIC AND THE U. S. S. R.' I.
Publications and Publishers
M. HOSEH Chemical Abstracts, Washington, D. C.
INTRODUCTION I n attempting to compile information concerning U. S. S. R. publications we are confronted with a total lack of authoritative data, i. e., bibliographic data emanating a t the source. Not that such bibliographic information does not exist, it does-as of necessity it must exist-but a t the present we do not have it and cannot obtain it. Yet, this information is essential if we are to abstract, index, search, and evaluate Soviet scientific and technical literature. I n this and the following papers I shall attempt to deal with U. S. S. R. publications, not so much with the quality of their content but rather with their formal status. All that is going t o be said here is based on experience accumulated over a period of ten years during which I have been examining U. S. S. R. publications, studying them and their make-up in the course of my work for Chemical Abstracts. The conclusions drawn from this experience are personal and wholly empirical. The following remarks are concerned exclusively with periodic literature, primarily in chemistry and related fields. ORGANIZATION OF A PUBLICATION
Each Soviet periodical publication which has so far come to my attention had three distinct bodies connected with it: sponsoring body, editorial board, and publisher. Obviously, each publication has also a printer. By sponsoring body I refer to an institution or organization which officially is responsible for the publication, takes credit for it, and presumably carries its cost. The sponsoring body is usually identified a t the top of the title page or just below the name of the publication. The first form is usually followed in publications having a general title, like Zhurnal, Trudy, Vestnik, Uchenye Zapiski, etc. The second form, i. e., the name of the sponsor following the title, is given on publications having a specific name, such as Ugol, Stal', Khimicheska~a Promyshlennost', Stanki i Instrument, Presented before the Division of Chemical Literature a t the 126th Meetine of the American Chemical Societv. New York. September, 1954.
and the like. We shall see later on that the title is not merely indicative of the content of a publication but also of its background, and thus the location of the sponsor's name is to some extent specific. Editorial Board. Our publications usually have an editor, they may also have an executive editor (the fellow who does the work), and in society publications an advisory board which functions in a more or less perfunctory manner. Soviet periodical publications have an editorial board-Redalctsionaaya kollegiya, usually abbreviated Redkollegiya. The board or collegium consists of the editor-in-chief, Glavnyi redaktar; his deputy, Zameslitel' glavnogo redaktora; secretary, Uehenyi sekretar'; and several board members. The editorial board is apparently appointed by the sponsoring body and is responsible for the content and quality of the publication. The members of editorial boards, particularly of academy and university publications, are men outstanding in their fields. Trade publications-which will be defined later-usually have a technical editor, Tekhnicheskii redalctor. The name of the technical editor is often but not always printed on the back page along with the name of the proofreader. Publishers. Publishers of scientific periodic literature in the Soviet Union can be divided into two groups, the academies and universities form one group, while all the others belong in the second group. The distinguishing mark of the first group is that the publisher is synonymous with the sponsoring body. Thus, when the sponsor is Akademiya Nauk SSSR, then the publisher is Izdatel'stuo Akademii Nauk SSSR; publications of the Moscow State University are issued by the Izdatel'stuo Moslcovslcogo Gosudarstvennogo Uniuersiteta. The publishers of this group usually have their own printing establishments. The second group publishes the various journals, serials, and monographs sponsored by the different ministries. The publishers of this group are numerous and go under a variety of names: Gizlegprom (literature on light industry), Medgiz (medical and health publications in the widest sense), Gostoptekhizdat (petroleum and coal-mining literature), Sel'khozgiz (literature on agriculture), etc. The name of the publishing house,
398
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
sions, and the regional branches and their subdivisions (not to be confused with the Regional Academies), a large number of research institutes are connected with and directed by the Academy. Among these institutes SPONSORING BODIES are: Institut Fizicheskoi Khimii, Fizicheskii Institut, Academies. Under the Soviet system the entire Institut Kristallograjii, Institut Nefti, Pochvennyi Inpublishing program of scientific and technical literature stitut im. . V . Dokuchaeva, Institut Geobgicheskikh is directly sponsored by the government as is all other Nauk (publishing several series), Institut Fiziologii publishing. The actual sponsors are distinct bodies Rastenii im. K . A . Timiryazeva, Institut Mikrobwbgii, clearly identified on the publication. as well as a number of research laboratories, such as The most important sponsor by far, with respect to Biogeolchimicheskaya Laboratoriya and Laboratoriya quantity and quality of scientific material, is the Sapropelevylch Otlozhenii. All of these institutes puhAcademy of Sciences of the U. S. S. R., Academiya lish their own Trudy. Nauk S S S R , together with its several branches, The Academy puhlications discussed hitherto, be Filialy Akademii Nauk S S S R (Ural'skii Filial, Karelo- they periodicals or serials, are scheduled publications. Finskii Filial, Kazanskii Filial, Moldavskii Filial, In addition to these the Academy issues occasional volumes dealing with specific topics: a conference etc.); there are 15 or more such branches. The Academy publishes a most impressive list of called to discuss spectroscopic methods, or flotation puhlications. These can he divided into two classes: problems, or else the theory of chemical bonds. The those published by the Academy as a whole, and puh- papers presented a t such conferences and the discuslications issued by the departments into which the sion of these papers will appear in one or more volumes, Academy is subdivided. Into the first group fall: usually called Trudy Konferentsii po. . . or Trudy Doklady, Vestnik, and such important journals as Soveshchaniya pa. . . followed by the name of the topic Zhurnal Fizicheskoi Khimii, Zhurnal Obshchei Khimii, of the conference. A similar type of material is preZhurnal Prikladnoi Khimii, Zhurnal Analiticheskoi sented by the work of a committee appointed by the Khimii, Uspekhi Khimii, Kolloidnyi Zhurnal, Zhurnal Academy to study a certain field or problem. The Elcsperimental'noi i Teoreticheskoi Fiziki, Zhurnal work of the committee may extend over several years. Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, Biokhimiya, Illikrobiologiya, and Papers written by members and papers invited by them Uspekhi Sovremennoi Biologii, to mention only some of appear in one or more volumes, usually as Trudy the journals. The publications of the departments of Kommissii po. . . followed by the subject of the investithe Academy are called Izuestiya Alcademii Nauk gation, such as Analiticheskoi Khimii. S S S R and are modified by the name of the respective The Academy also publishes numerous monographs department, such as Otdelenie Khimicheskikh Nauk, on a variety of scientific and industrial problems, such Otdelenie Tekhnicheskikh Nauk, Seriya Bwlogicheskaya, as metallo-organic compounds, mine safety, and many Seriya Fizicheskaya, and so on. A large department, others. Another type of Academy publication is memorial such as Otdelenie Khimicheskikh Nauk may comprise several institutes and these in turn issue their own volumes honoring some of their great scientists, e. g., publications. Thus, Institut Obshchei i Neorganicheskoi Sbornik posuyashchennyi semidesyatiletiyu akademika Khimii (General and Inorganic Chemistry) which is A . E. Ioffe, 1950; Voprosy mineralogii, geolchimii i further divided into "sectors" publishes Izvestiya Sek- petrograjii, issued as the Fersman memorial volume in tora Fiziko-Khimicheskogo Analiza, and Izvestiya Sek- 1946; and the Belyankin memorial volume of the same tora Platiny i Drugikh Blagorodnykh Metallov, both re- year. markable publications, the first dealmg primarily with Regional Academies. Most of the federated republics phase rule and the geometry of chemistry, and the of the Soviet Union have their own Academy of Sciences second with coordination compounds. The Vestnik, which, for the sake of convenience, I shall call regional academies. A regional academy usually starts out as a Dokladv, .~. the Zhurnal's, and the several Izvestiya's are periodicals, i. P . , they are iswpd nt detinitr intrrvnls. branch of the Akademiya Naulc S S S R . Its first task Thr Izrcsliya's of the two scctorn are errials issnrvl 11t nu is to train research personnel from among the respective specific intervals; there are usually 1-3 volumes a nationalities to staff the laboratories and institutes. year. Each issue is referred to as volume (tom) and As qualified personnel become available, i t gradually numbered consecutively. Occasionally, one volume takes over administrative and research duties. When the local staff is of such quality and quantity that it can appears in several parts. I n addition to the puhlications of the central acad- initiate and carry out a research program on a proper emy, its various branches or Filial's have their own level, and when its training program is developed to a publications. The extent of their puhlishing activity point where it is assured of a continuous supply of varies greatly. I n this respect, the Ural'skii Filial is scientific personnel, the branch is transformed into an the most important; it publishes among others Trudy independent academy. Gorno-GeologicheskogoInstituta, Trudy Instituta Biologii, At present there are the following regional academies: (1) Akademiya Nauk Armyanskoi S S R (Armenian), and Trudy Instituta Fiziki Metallov. Besides the regular departments and their suhdivi- (2) Akademiya Nauk Azerbaidzhanskoi S S R (Azerrespectively the approved abbreviation as here given, denotes the type of material which it handles. These publishing houses seem to farm out their printing jobs.
VOLUME 33, NO. 8, AUGUST, 1956
baidzhan), (3) Akademiya Nauk Belorusskoi S S R (Belorussian), (4) Akademiya Naulc Estonskoi S S R (Estonian), (5) Akademiya Nauk Gruzinskoi S S R (Georgian), (6) Akademiya Nauk Kazakhskoi S S R (Kazakh), (7) Akademiya Naulc Kirgizskoi S S R (Kirgiz), (8) Akademiya Nauk Latviislcoi S S R (Latvian), Alcademiya Nauk Litovslcoi S S R (Lithuanian), (10) Akademiya Nauk Tadzhikslcoi S S R (Tadzik), (11) Akademiya Nauk Turkmeuskoi S S R (Turkman), (12) Akademiya Nauk Ukrainslcoi S S R (Ukrainian), and (13) Akademiya Naulc Uzbekskoi S S R (Uzbek). The organization of the regional academies parallels that of the Akademiya Nauk S S S R but the extent to which they follow the research progress of the main Academy varies. Quite naturally, the regional academies devote most of their effort to research problems peculiar to their regions. The U. S. S. R. Academy may study the theory of metal structure but the Kazakh Academy will investigate the dressing of polymetal nonferrous ores while the Ukrainian Academy will investigate the treatment of ferrngenous ores. The U. S. S. R. Academy will conduct research in plant physiology but the Armenian Academy is more likely to study disease prevention and fertilization of fruit trees and vines, and the Turkman Academy will study similar problems applied t o cotton. The Kirgiz and Tadzhik academies are more likely to emphasize animal husbandry, the Azerbaidzhan Academy petroleum, and the Belorussian Academy peat. Even as the organization of the regional academies is fashioned after that of the U. S. S. R. Academy of Sciences so does their publication program, but on a much reduced scale. Every one of the regional academies publishes a Vestnik, many publish one or more Izvestiya's and Trudy of their own subdivisions, and a few publish Doklady. Since the avowed aim is to have the native or local language dominant in the culturd activities of the region, all of the titles and a t least part of the text are given in the native tongue. A Russian translation of the title usually but not always follows. Thus we have: Zyegwoihtzner (Doklady) and Delegakir (Izvestiya) published by the Armenian Academy. The Kazakh Academy issues Khabarlary (Izvestiya) and Khabarshysy (Vestnik); the Latvian, Vestis (Izvestiya) and Raksti (Trudy); the Uzbek, Dokladlari (Doklady) and Akhboroti (Izvestiya); and so on. The Ukrainian Academy publishes Dopovidi and Visnik (corresponding to Doklady and Vestnik) wholly in Ukrainian, while the Georgian Academy issues Moambe and Shrometi in Georgian and the corresponding Soobshcheniya and Trudy in Russian. Of the regional academies the most prolific publisher is the Ukrainian Academy, Alcademiya Nauk Ukrains'koi R S R . I n addition to Visnik and Dopovidi mentioned above, the Ukrainian Academy publishes Ukrainskii Khimicheskii Zhurnal (in Russian). It is the only regular scientific journal published by that academy as a whole; the institutes of the Ukrainian
399
Academy publish regularly: (1) Botanichnyi Zhurnal (in Ukrainian), (2) Geologichnyi Zhurnal (in Ukrainian), (3) Mikrobiologichnyi Zhurnal (in Ukrainian), (4) Ukrainskii Biolchimichnyi Zhurnal (in Ukrainian), (5) Avtomaticheslcaya Svarlca (in Russian), ( 6 ) Medichnyi Zhurnal (in Ukrainian), and (7) Ulcrainskii Matematicheskii Zhurnal (in Russian). In addition to the above, the departments of the Ukrainian Academy publish serials, such as: Trudy Instituta Chernoi Metallurgii, Trudy Instituta Gidrobiologii, and many others. The Latvian, Armenian, and Kazakh academies are probably the next most important sponsors and publishers of scientific material. Besides the U. S. S. R. Academy and the regional academies there is also the Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Vsesoyuznaya Akademiya Sel'skokhozyaistvennylch Nauk im. V . I. Lenina, which sponsors Doklady published by Sel'khozgiz and the Academy of Medical Sciences, Akademiya Meditsinskikh Nauk S S S R , sponsoring Vestnik published by Medgiz. Universities. The other bodies in the sponsorpublisher group are the universities. It should be noted here that in the Soviet Union as in the rest of continental Europe universities are state institutions coming within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Higher Education. Therefore, every university is a "Gosudarstvennyi Universitet"-a State University. A university is usually identified by the city in which it is located, thus: Moslcovskii, Kievskii, Tomskii, or Khar'kovskii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet. Often, there is the name of a patron attached to it, e. g., Leningradskii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet i m . A . A . Zhdanova, but it is of little importance as patrons come and go while the institution remains. On its publications the name of the sponsoring university appears a t the top of the cover and at the head of the title page. The title of a university periodical is usually Uchenye Zapiski or Nauchnye Zapislei; thus, Uchenye Zapiski, Kazanslcii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet im. Ul'yanovaLenina, Naukovi Zapyslcy, Kyivskyi Derzhavnyi Universitet im. T . G. Shevchenlco, and so on. The larger universities, such as Moscow and Leningrad, publish also a Vestnilc. The Leningrad University issues in addition a Nauchnyi Byulleten. Most of university publications are serials rather than regular periodicals. Exceptions are the Vestnilc of the Moscow University and the Vestnilc of the Leningrad University which are monthlies. The Moscow University Vestnilc appears in two series: Seriya Obshchestvennylch Nauk devoted to humanities, and Seriya Fizilco-Matematieheslcilch i Estestvennykh Nauk devoted to mathematical and natural sciences. The Uchenye Zapiski and Nauchnye Zapiski being serials are numbered consecutively. One issue may be given over to the work of one of the university departments and in that case will carry two numbers: the consecutive number in the whole series and the consecutive number of issues devoted to the work of the particular department, Fakultet; thus, Uchenye Za-
400
pislci, Moskovskii Gosudarstvennyi Pedagogicheskii Institut im. V. I. Lenina, Kafedra Obshchei i Analiticheskol Khimii, and Uchenye Zapiski, Leningradskii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet im. A. A. Zhdanova, Seriya Khlmicheslcikh Naulc. The Moscow and Leningrad universities have the largest publication program among Soviet universities. Other universities with a significant publication program are those of Kiev, Kazan, Lv'iv, Khar'kov, and Odessa. The Tomsk University, the Central-Asia University in Tashkent, the Karelo-Finnish University in Petrozavodsk, and the Riga University are worth notice. Other universities also publish but their publications most likely are issued in small numbers and are difficultto obtain. Besides universities, other schools of higher education, such as schools of engineering, Politekhniki or Politekhnicheskie Instituty; teachers' colleges, Pedagogicheskie Instituty; schools of mining, Gornye Instituty; and other specialized schools issue their own publications, e. g., Nauchnye Trudy, Moskovskii Gornyi Institut im. I. V. Stalina, Naukovi Zapysky, L'viuskyi Politekhnichnyi Institut, and Uchenye Zapiski, Leningradskii Gosudarstvennyi Pedagogicheskii Institut im. P. N. Pokrovskogo. Ministries. Hitherto were discussed sponsoring bodies which are simultaneously their own publishers. The other group of sponsoring bodies is made up of organizations which have no publishing establishments of their own, a t least not identified directly as such. This includes such government bodies as ministries, bureaus, boards, and the like. I n the Soviet Union each major phase of activity and each major industry is headed by a ministry. There is a ministry of health, a ministry of agriculture, a ministry of food, a ministry of chemical industry, of metallurgy, of coal, petroleum, building materials, etc. Each ministry sponsors one or more periodicals which will be referred to as trade journals in its field of activity. The sponsors of trade journals are identified on the title page, usually on the masthead, by a statement "organ" of such and such ministry, e. g., Organ Ministerstva Khimicheskoi Promyshlennosti SSSR, Organ Ministerstua Ugol'noi PromyshlennostiSSSR, . . .Nejtyanoi Promyshlennosti, or . . .Sel'skokhozyaistva, as the case may be. The publishers of the trade journals are distinct from the sponsors and have their own names. Some of these were already mentioned before. The most prolific sponsors of technical periodicals are the Ministry of Health, Ministerstuo Zdravookhraneniya SSSR, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministerstvo Sel'skogo Khozyaistva SSSR. Another one which publishes a number of journals is the Provisions' Ministry, Ministerstvo Promyshlennosti Prodovol'stvennylch Tovarov SSSR. The publishing houses of these ministries are: Medgiz, Sel'hozgiz, and Pishchepromizdat, respectively. An important branch of a ministry also may sponsor its own publication. Thus, e. g., Sakharnaya Prmnysh-
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
lennost' (Sugar Industry) is sponsored by Glavnoe Upravlenie Sakharnoi Promyshlennosti (Glavsakhar), Ministerstvo Promyshlennosti Prodovol'stvennylch Tovarov SSSR. Vinodelie i Vinogradarstvo SSSR (Wine Making and Wine Growing) is published by Glavnoe Upravlenie Vinodel'cheskoi Promyshlennosti of the same ministry. Some publications are sponsored by more than one ministry, e. g., Mekhanizatsiya Trudoemkikh i Tyazhelykh Rabot is sponsored by the Ministries of Coal, of Lumber and Paper, and of Building, Ministerstvo Ugol'noi Promyshlennosti SSSR, Ministerstvo Lesnoi i Bumazhnoi Promyshlennosti SSSR, and Ministerstvo Stroitel'stva SSSR. Even more (four) sponsors has the Vestnik Mashinostroeniya, a monthly devoted to machine building, and sponsored by the Ministry of Building and Road Construction Machinery (Ministerstuo Stroitel'nogo i Dorozhnogo Mashinostroeniya), the Ministry of Shipbuilding. Industry (Ministerstvo Sudostroitel'noi Promyshlennosti), the Ministry of Transportation-Machinery Building (Ministerstvo Transportnogo Mashinostroeniya), and the Ministry of Heavy Machinery Construction (Ministerstvo Tyazhelogo Mashinostroeniya). Industrial Institutes. The trade journals are industry wide and deal only with general organizational and production topics. Industrial research is carried on in industrial research institutes. Each ministry concerned with industrial or consumer goods maintains one or more research institutes where applied research, pilot-plant operations, material testing, etc., is carried out. All of these institutes publish serials more or less frequently. They are usually called Trudy, Sbornik Rabot, or Sbornilc Statei modified by the name of the institute. Thus, Trudy, Gosudarstvennyi Nau,chnoIssledovetel'slcii Institut Tsementnoi Promyshlennosti (State Institute of Cement Technology) is sponsored by the Ministry of Building Material Industry; Sbornik Statei, Vsesoyuznyi Nauchno-Issledovatel'skii Institut Khimicheskogo Mashinostroeniya (All-Union Institute of Chemical Machine Building), sponsored by the Ministry of Equipment and Apparatus Building; and Sbornik Rabot, GosudarstvennyZ Institut Prikladnoi Khimii (State Institute of Applied Chemistry), sponsored by the Ministry of Chemical Industry. A ministry may be concerned with more than one material and is therefore likely to maintain research institutes in several fields. Thus, the above-mentioned Building Material Ministry maintains a research institute of building ceramics, Vsesoyuznyi NauchnoIssledovatel'skii Institut Stroitel'noi Keramiki, which publishes T d y ; and an institute for asbestos-cement products, Vsesoyuznyi Nauchno-Issledovatel'skii Institut Asbestotsementnykh Izdelii which also publishes its Trudy. It also maintains a research institute for structural glass, one for paint and finishing materials, and several others. On the other hand, a certain material can have more than one use and is thus likely t o be the subject of
402
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION
so on. The format and the two-column arrangement kind in the field of hygiene, health, medicine, and agriresemble that of Chemical Abstraels. The abstracts culture are priced very low. Generally, publications are numbered consecutively, a practice followed by the of higher professional levels cost more. Some univerBulletin analytique; the arrangement of subject matter sity publications are free. The price of a publication is resembles that of Chemisches Zentralblatt. printed a t the top left corner of the book cover. The most voluminous series of the Referativnyi COLOPHON Zhurnal is that of chemistry, officially abbreviated as Introduced at the beginning of printing and now RZhKhim. It started appearing in October, 1953, and continues in two issues a month. The material, almost universally abandoned, the colophon is still in both foreign and domestic, which is covered by the ab- use on Soviet publications. I t is usually printed at the stracts has been published since January 1, 1953. The bottom of the last page or on the verso of the title page. names of non-Russian authors are given in Russian and It tells when the material was sent to the printer, when in the original language, using even Chinese characters it was set to type, the format, the paper used, the where needed. Each issue contains an author index number of printed copies, and similar information. in Russian of all the names and a Latin script index of DISTRIBUTION foreign authors as well as a Chinese index. Foreign The distribution of published material in the Soviet names in the Russian index present a problem. The Russian language transliterates phonetically. Thus, Union is handled by Soyuzpechat which is an agency of our Hildebrand and the German Hildebrandt do not the Ministry of Communication, Ministerstuo Svyazi appear in consecutive order. The "1" in the German SSSR. The Soyuzpechat maintains direct outlets and agencies name is labialized calling for a soft sign in Russian the Soviet Union and in countries outside transliteration. The soft sign is well toward the end throughout of the Russian alphabet and therefore the German of it. The Academy has its own outlets, Akademkniga, in Hildebrandt is listed way below our Hildebrand. Referativnyi Zhurnal, Khimiya published in its six the major cities of the Soviet Union. University publications, except those of the Moscow issues of 1953 10,042 abstracts or an average of 1674 abstracts per issue. The average of the first two issues and Leningrad universities, are not generally distributed by Soyuzpechat. of 1954 is 2022 abstracts. The abstracts are informative, the print is clear and ACKNOWLEDGMENT legible, and the paper is of good quality. I take this opportunity to express my thanks to the Occasionally, Referat. Zhur., Khim. reprints, abstracts from Chemical Abstracts giving the latter credit. Library of Congress, Washington, D. C., whose files I consulted frequently during the preparation of this and PRICE OF PUBLICATIONS the following papers. The Library of Congress has in It is hard to arrive at a general rule as to how Soviet its collection all the above-mentioned titles and many Union publications are priced in relation to number of more. Not only does the Library have the largest colpages or some other physical feature. There is, how- lection of U. S. S. R. material in this country but its ever, a clearly discernible policy in relation to the expert staff services this material most efficiently and purpose of a publication. Publications of the popular courteously. ~
~
