The Publication of Scientific Papers

Abstract

THE abstracts of physical science for the year 1886, published by the Berlin Physical Society, are contained in three stout octavo volumes, comprising over 2000 pages, while the somewhat less comprehensive supplements to the Annalen average about 1000 pages. A good index, on the other hand, can be prepared at little more than the cost of printing. An index entry, which contains the full title of the article, the name of the author, the correct reference, the number of pages covered by the article, and, where necessary, a brief indication of the scope of the article, is sufficient to inform the student where each advance in his particular branch of science is to be found reported, and is of permanent value to searchers of all sorts, provided a proper system of classification of the index entries is adhered to. The scheme of indexing carried out by the Association of Engineering Societies of America presents many features worthy of imitation. The index, which appears monthly in the journal, is printed on one side only (the reverse is available for advertisements) and possesses a separate pagination, so that a student can extract for himself any entries which he may require. At the end of the year the index is consolidated, so as to form a permanent record of the progress of the science during that period. The consolidation of the index can be cheaply effected by an arrangement with the printer to keep the type standing for twelve months, when, in addition to the reference to the source of the original paper, references to abstracts and reviews can be incorporated. If the Physical Society would undertake such a work, it is probable that the utility of the index would lead to an extension of the system to other sciences also. It is clear that by a cooperative arrangement between two or more societies various indexes could be issued at a relatively slightly increased cost. The economy is obvious: the same files have to be searched but once, the same staff would be competent to do the combined work at a cheaper rate, and minor economics could be effected in stationary salary of editor, &c.