Number 40 Price 15 cents REPRINT AND CIRCULAR SERIES OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL THE USEFULNESS OF ANALYTIC ABSTRACTS By GORDON S. FULCHER CORNING GLASS WORKS Reprinted from Science, Vol. LVI, No. 1459, Pages 678-680, December 15, 1922. Announcement Concerning Publications of the National Research Council The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is partly supported by the National Research Council which is represented officially on its Editorial Board and Executive Committee. It is open for the publication of papers to members of the National Research Council on the same terms as to members of the National Academy of Sciences. Subscription rate for the "Proceedings" is $5 per year. Business address: Home Secretary, National Academy of Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. The Bulletin of the National Research Council presents contributions from the National Research Council, other than pro- ceedings, for which hitherto no appropriate agencies of publication have existed. The "Bulletin" is published at irregular intervals. The subscription price, postpaid, is $5 per volume of approximately 500 pages. Numbers of the "Bulletin" are sold separately at prices based upon the cost of manufacture. The Reprint and Circular Series of the National Research Council renders available for purchase, at prices dependent upon the cost of manufacture, papers published or printed by or for the National Research Council. Orders for the "Bulletin" or the "Reprints and Circulars" of the National Research Council, accompanied by remittance, should be ad- dressed : Pub! 'ffice, National Research Council, 1701 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D. C. Hi-printed from SCIENCE, pages 678-680, Vol. LVI, No. 1459, December 13, 1922. THE USEFULNESS OF ANALYTIC ABSTRACTS THE various ways in which preliminary ab- stracts should be of service to scientific readers were pointed out about a year ago 1 , but whether such abstracts as actually prepared and pub- lished Avould 'be worth while could be deter- mined only by experiment. This has been done. After analytic abstracts had been ap- pearing in the Astro physical Journal and the Physical Review 2 for over two years the fol- lowing return post-card questionnaire was sent by the chairman of the Division of Physical Sciences of the National Research Council to each reader, with the request that he under- score in each parenthesis the word or words which represent his answer to the question im- plied : I look through (the Astro-physical Journal, the Physical Review) regularly. Before reading the articles, I read the abstracts (always, usually, sometimes, seldom, never). Instead of reading the articles, I read the abstracts in (many, some, few, no) cases. The abstracts have helped me understand the articles in (some, few, no) cases. The abstracts have proved useful in locating in- formation in (some, few, no) eases. I read the subtitles in the abstracts first (sometimes, never). I find the subtitles of value as an index of the i ' ' Scientific Abstracting " by G. S. Fulcher, SCIENCE 54, 291, September 30, 1921. 2 The preliminary abstracts in the Physical Re- view are called "Synopses" to distinguish them from the abstracts of papers presented at meet- ings which are printed in connection with the proceedings of the Society. i abstract (sometimes, never). The abstracts in general give (too much, too little, about enough) information. I think they should be continued (yes, no). I have the following suggestions to make: Replies were received from 805 readers, including 83 readers of the Astro physical Jour- nal, 502 readers of the Physical Eevieiv, and 220 readers of 'both. Although the answers from the three groups have been tabulated sep- arately, the results are so nearly the same for each that only the results for all readers, that is, the percentages of all readers answering each question in each alternative way, will be given here. Since some replies are incom- plete, the sum of the percentages is usually less than 100. 1. How frequently are the abstracts read be- fore the articles? always by 41.9 per cent, of readers, usually by 45.9 per cent, of readers, sometimes by 9.9 iper cent, of readers, seldom by 2.1 per cent, of readers, never by 0.2 per cent, ef readers. 100.0 per cent. 2. How many abstracts are read instead of the articles? many by 44.5 per cent, of readers, some by 39.7 per cent, of readers, few by 9.5 per cent, of readers, none by 2.6 per cent, of readers. 96.3 per cent. S. How many abstracts helped in understand- in (j the articles? some helped 58.1 .per cent, of readers. few helped 17.7 per cent, of readers, none helped 11.8 per cent, of readers. 87.6 per cent. 2 4. How many abstracts have proved useful in locating information? some useful to ;>9.3 per cent, of readers, few useful to 16.6 per cent, of readers, none useful to 11.4 per cent, of readers. 87.3 per cent. 5. Should the abstracts be continued? yes 92.8 per cent, of readers. HO 4.0 per cent, of readers. 96.8 per cent. Since the abstracts are read, always or usu- ally, by 88 pev cent, of the readers; are read instead of many of the articles by 45 per cent, ; and have been- found helpful in other ways by 59 per cent., they have evidently proved of de- cided value. In what ways? According to the testimony of the readers: "They are great time savers"; "They frequently give all information necessary about the articles"; "They double a man's range of reading." Moreover, the ab- stracts have 'been copied verbatim in Science Abstracts and have rhus reduced the labor of preparing that abstract journal by ten per cent. The abstracts have therefore to seme extent fulfilled their purpose of saving the time of scientific men. How about other sciences? Are astronomy and physics essentially different from chem- istry, botany, zoology, geology, physiology, etc., in their methods of disseminating scientific information? If 93 per cent, of the readers of these as.tronom.ical and physical journals find that preliminary abstracts are useful to them, would not the great majority of other scientific readers also find such abstracts use- ful? The responsibility resting upon the editors of other scientific journals is clear. Now as to the nature of the abstracts which should be provided. The abstracts which have been appearing in the Astro physical Journal and Physical Review are of the analytic type developed by the National Research Council. 3 They aim to give a complete description and adequate summary of the results reported in each article. The replies to the question: 6. Is the amount of information given, in general, about enough, too little, or too much? about enough 79.8 per cent, of readers. too little 6.7 per cent, of readers. too much 4.8 per cent, of readers. 91.3 per cent. these replies indicate that the abstracts, aver- aging from 5 to 6 per cent, of the articles, have been of about the right length, and it is not believed they could be made much shorter with- out considerably decreasing their value. A distinctive feature of the abstracts is that they contain italicized subtitles wnich give the various subjects involved more completely and precisely than in general it is possible for the author's titles to do. One purpose of these subtitles is to enable a reader who is not inter- ested in the subject indicated by the author's title to determine by glancing through the sub- titles whether something of interest to him has not been incidentally included. Until readers became accustomed to these subtitles, however, it was to be expected that most readers would consider them more of an annoyance than a help; but the following replies show that a surprising percentage of the readers have already found the subtitles useful: 7. Do you ever read the subtitles in the ab- stracts first? sometimes 64.1 per cent, of readers. never 17.5 per cent, of readers. 81.6 per cent. 3 Described in ' ' Scientific Abstracting ' ' re- ferred to a.bove. 4 8. Do you ever find the subtitles of value as an index of the abstract? sometimes G3.0 per ceut. of readers, never 12.7 per cent, of readers. 75.7 per cent. Since the subtitles also serve the purpose of assisting in the compilation of a complete sub- ject index and tend to insure more complete abstracts, it is believed this feature should be retained. Only three readers definitely objected to the form of the analytic abstracts. It is the practice of both these journals to submit all authors' abstracts to an abstract editor to be revised or of necessary rewritten, in conformity with the standards adopted. While a few authors have objected to having their abstracts "robbed of individuality," a number of readers specially called attention to the importance of having the abstracts edited so that a uniform standard might be main- tained. It can safely be affirmed that since most authors are inexperienced in writing ab- stracts and also differ widely in their ideas of the function of the abstract, authors' abstracts if not thoroughly edited are sure to fall far short of rendering the service which prelim- inary abstracts should render, even if detailed instructions are furnished. But after the edited abstracts begin to appear regularly, they gradually establish a standard to which authors will conform more and more closely as time goes on, and therefore the amount of editing required will become less and less. Finally, mention should be made of the sug- gestion of several readers that larger type be used for the abstracts than has been the cus- tom. Since more people read the abstracts than read the articles, it would seem obvious that the type of the abstracts should be at least as large as that of the articles. It should not be long hefoi'e all scientific journals, in fulfilment of their duty toward their readers, provide carefully prepared pre- liminary abstracts of their scientific articles. There can no longer be any doubt of the value of such abstracts. It remains only to over- come the practical obstacles to the introduc- tion of the new policy. In conclusion we desire to express our thanks to the 805 readers whose cooperation gave us the information herewith reported. GORDON S. FULCHER CORNING GLASS WORKS 6 The National Research Membership and Organization. The National Research Council is a cooperative organization of scientific men of America, including also a representation of men of affairs interested in engineering and industry and in the "pure" science upon which the applied science used in these activities depends. Its membership is largely composed of accredited representatives of about seventy-five national scientific and technical societies. The Council was established at the request of the President of the United States, under the Congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences, to coordinate the research facilities of the country for work on war problems involving scientific knowledge. In 1918, by Executive Order, it was reorganized as a permanent body. Although partly supported during the war period by the government and primarily devoted at that time to its activities, the Council now derives all of its financial support from other than governmental sources and is entirely controlled by its own represen- tatively selected membership and democratically chosen officers. It main- tains, however, a close cooperation with government scientific bureaus and their activities. Purpose. The Council is neither a large operating laboratory nor a repository of funds to be given away to scattered scientific workers or institutions. 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