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Science Publishing
Henry Spall, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia 22092
One of the factors we did not consider when Geology began
publication in 1973 was the important and inevitable changes in
the publication process. Clearly, even more significant changes will prefer the printed page. Nevertheless, libraries are steadily moving
take place by the end of this decade in the way we communicate
scientific information.
The production of more and more information every year has
led to greater incentive to speed up the publishing process. Word
processors have had an enormous effect on publishing.
Manuscripts keyboarded by an author on a floppy (or hard) disc
can now be teletransmitted through all the publication stages
—submission to the journal, journal review, author’s revision,
journal editing, typesetting—without the need for a hard (paper)
copy. Other input devices available are optical character recogni-
tion (OCR) devices that will eventually be able to scan any kind of
typed or typeset font. These convert the printed material to digital able form and its retrieval by on-line access, usually through
form that can be manipulated by a word processor or by photo-
typesetting equipment. In addition, greater use of computer
graphics will allow not only a speedier and more standardized
presentation of illustrations but, ultimately, publication of an
entire package of text and graphics solely by electronic methods.
Some societies, notably the American Chemical Society, have
been engaged in electronic publishing for a long time. In the U.S.
Geological Survey, we are moving steadily toward processing our
book publications solely by means of word-processing and tele-
communications equipment. An obvious prediction for the next
decade is that society journals will move in this direction too.
Traditionally, primary journals have been of great benefit to
individuals, despite the fact that the individual is usually inter-
ested in only a small part of the contents of such a journal. This
fact, as well as the burgeoning amount of information and the cost
to publish it, means that much attention will be paid in the next
10 years to finding alternative ways of getting the information to
the audience in a manner that is both efficient and cost effective.
Microform publication, which offers immense space- and
money-saving advantages, is one way of doing this. Of all the
alternatives to traditional journals, microform offers perhaps the
best opportunity for reader browsing, although the courageous
but ill-fated attempt by the Geological Society of America to
introduce microfiche in the GSA Bulletin shows that most readers
toward microfilm browsing files (as indeed they are moving
steadily toward computerized systems for many library func-
tions). A second alternative to the primary journal is the use of
laser-encoded video discs to store and display scientific informa-
tion. Video discs can store enormous amounts of information
—one side of a disc can carry more than 40,000 pages of text, the
equivalent of 4,000 journal articles or 200 books. The advantages
of such compressed storage systems to libraries, plagued by
chronic space shortages, are self-evident; in addition, any of the
images on a disc can be displayed on a video screen within a
matter of seconds. A third alternative that we will see in the next
decade is the increased storage of information in computer-read-
video-display units. Variations of this, now, include journals that
are available both in paper copy and through on-line magnetic
tape or floppy disc.
Experience indicates that the initial reaction to alternatives to
primary journals will not be favorable or positive, not the least
because operating these systems requires some commitment to
unfamiliar technology. Nevertheless, computers and such have
made enormous inroads into today’s society. (Anyone who has
watched teenagers in a video arcade realizes how enthusiastic this
generation is about manipulating information on a video screen;
remember that these people are tomorrow’s users of scientific data
and will expect to see familiar technology.) Within the next 10
years, aided by the momentum toward personal computers,
immediate access and exchange of information by means of video
screens and telecommunications links will increase significantly.
As the hardware becomes faster and more efficient and the soft-
ware systems are made more “user friendly,” the sheer volume of
information that will be produced demands that we be receptive
to alternative ways of communicating the results of our research.
GSA TODAY | www.geosociety.org/gsatoday
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