Co-operation in Science

Abstract

Realisation of the essential unity of science leads to the perception of the need for co-operation of workers in all its branches. Various suggestions are put forward, but complete co-operation cannot be secured, except on a bibliographical basis ; for information cannot be given until it has been ascertained. The fundamental difficulty is the lack of co-operation in bibliographical services. Three hundred abstracting and indexing journals together produce annually three quarters of a million abstracts or index entries, the same number as that of the important scientific and technical articles published. Yet only one third of these articles is indexed or abstracted. The cause of this failure lies in the fact that it is almost impossible to make a complete index of the literature of a particular subject by present methods. One third or less of that literature is contained in a nucleus of periodicals, which purport to cater for that subject. The remaining two thirds, or three quarters, is scattered among thousands of periodicals, which contain articles at the rate of from one a year to one in ten years or less. To compile a complete index to the information on any subject, a mass of periodicals must be scrutinised, the yield from which individually is not worth the trouble. But in bulk it far exceeds the total of papers contained in the special periodicals.