INDUSTRIAL
and- ENGINEERING
WALTER J. MURPHY, Editor
T h e W o r l d Outlook for Scientific Pubhcations ELES t y o or more scientists meet no\\-ada>->,the w i i like1)- to turn t o the subject of the st:ttu:: ns, S o problem rrceivcd greater attt'ri-
] ) I ' ~ ) \ , i - i ~ i i i\rill
tioil at the recent iiiee;ings in L of the Intcwiational Conof I'iirc~ and dpplicd Clhenii ti the Intc~rnationnlUnioii 01' ('lieniistry. I n and out o i ttve roonis chemi3ts disc,ussed formally and informally the outlook for chemical publications during the nc,xt fen- y ~ a r s . )Ian>- suggestions were made, ,.u~tie of which V , Y > ~ Pof a most practical nature: others regrc,tfully iiiust be cataloged as mere 71-ishful thinking. Chemists the world over correctly frel that research is serioujlj, handicapped ai present by a lack of definite k n o d e d g e concerning the revival of chemical journals in Europe, particularly in Grrmany and those countries which n'ere under -isis domination prior to and during Korld K a r 11. Furthermore, etringent currency and exchange regulations which nor\- prevail in many countries make it difficult, if not n-hollj- impossible, fo ? r , obtain anything like an adequate selection of important journals. Science cannot flourish under such adverse conditions. The July 18 issue of Science contains tn-o excellent summaries oi conditions of publications in Europe n-hich we strongly recommend to our readers. James S.Thompson, executive chairman , I f the Board of Directors of the ?iIcGran.-Hill Book Company, iix- w i t t e n his i 1 n p r w 4 o n ~of thi: ti~c~hiiical hook publishing field t ' ~ l l o \ ~ i nvisits g T O r.1 II couiitrie:: in E:urope ancl considerable ,!.lit,t,c.spoiid(.iic(, n-ith informed individuals in 5everal other .-. 1 ' I i : i i , k s H. I3ron-11, associatp director of the Ion-a State Collegc. I,il)rary, has rcvicn-Pd in quite'somc detail thi. present status of ,.~,ii,tiiificjournals in most of the European countries. Ione hand, arid in the Russian zone oii tlit. romlit o such prnblcms its nomr,nclaturc..
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On(, must he realistic in approaching thc qil!~tioiiof rcviviiig .:cic.iitific pui)lications in Europe, S o immediate p;iii:icca ic in th!, offing. There are those \Tho feel that, some intt:rritttion:il hotly. for example, USESCO, should provide tho 111 fiiiitls. Thost, who think so do not have any tmgiblc idvas (*ons costs. to say nothing of the opc~l~~1tiorial at111 problems involved in obtaining sufficient quantities of [):ipt' productioii. This is just one of the many penalties the n-orltl is paying aiid will continue t o pay, for years to conits; turthcsr proof that everyone loses n-hen nations unshttath the S I Y I J I ~ . One can c1asilJ- become very pessimiitic conccrning the. out look for qcientific literature during the nest tlecade. Even in the Pnited States, TTC are woefully short of paper :md production f:td i t i r s . At this moment, most scientific puk~lieationsfacts di+ couraging delays in publishing current scientific developlilc.nts. Add to t,hese factors rapidly mounting costs and the f ~ t1i:it ~ the t international political outlook is uncertain to say thls 1ea.t. ant1 thr picture is a most discouraging one. InTteI'natiollall~the situation is much worst' tlian it is i i i t i i i h c.ountq-. In discussing scientific matters n-ith scit,iiti;it s i i i at least six cwuntries in Europe this suninit~r,the yiiwtiori of p : i p t s t ' supplies \vas raised again and again. Occasionally plea.: wvrc made that the United States allocatc a portion of its paper t'i~r use abroad in puhlishing scientific data. Khether o r not such a plan is feasible is beyond the s ~ ~ oi p ethis discussion. It dot^ indicate, though, t h e desperate straits in which pul,li~tic~t~s iif scientific literature abroad find themselves. -4 certain aniouiit of dela!-, perhaps several years, i n rwt oi,itig thcl scientific literature of the irorld t o a is iii(~vita1)k~.But even this ohjective srwcli today is being rarriid on in th where ; i ~ a rate far i n e x c w i oi that \rhirli cxi.ted prior l o 193!1, One neetl but look at t h e wspcctivc print ort11,ri for .\\ll,;RIl .\s C H E m c a r , SOCIETY journals in 2939 aiid 1947 antl alw to iiotc, 1 iiicrcwe in thi. nuiiiirr of pnpers bring piesonti d no\\- at SOCII;TY meetings :t" c i j m p t w ~ ( 1ti) 1939, t o und(~istant1rho tl!,m:intl.: tli:it non- csist on r t i c pnper s u p p l i c ~anti prnilucticin E;ic*ilitic%-:of thts I i ( 5
. \ \ I E R I C 4 S C'€IEllIC.iL ~ O C I E T I ~ .
limited 11-orld cupacity for publicatioii ia perhaps the g t w t ~ h t barrier t o the rapid strides in science in the near future. \\-hat, if anything, can be done to mert this situation in this routitry :ind the even more desperate one which liangs like an ominous tjlack cloud ovcr scientific Europe at the prescnt tiiiic'? Scient ists C:LILnot continue iiidefinitcl>-to opisrate successfull:.- i n a part i i r l we.uum. Our success in restoring the normal. healthy, iiiii,rlimited hj- such national eschange of scientific knoviledge is no'.\prosaic but, tangible restrictions as paper supplies, printing iarilities, artificial currency exchange barriers, and ztn unfavorable international political outlook. Surmount them, and the spirit of international cooperation that has al\\-a!-a esistt:tl among i n gators can be counted upon to supply tlic lift4)lootl of data t o Imy) the body of world scicntific knnwlivigc vigni,ou:; :inti glo\vitig!..
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