Publishing Research on Materials
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Publishing Research on Materials Gordon E. Pike MRS President It h a s b e e n a b o u t s e v e n m o n t h s since t h e first issue of journal of Materials Research a p p e a r e d in my mailbox. Since t h e n t h e r e has b e e n an increased a w a r e n e s s a m o n g materials scientists that a truly different j o u r n a l has a r r i v e d . T h i s is a journal which m i r r o r s t h e b r e a d t h and forefront c h a r a c t e r of M R S m e e t i n g s . T h e multidisciplinarity of its c o n t e n t s is reflected n o t only by t h e large topical c o v e r a g e , b u t also by t h e a b s e n c e of superficial g r o u p i n g s by a n y o n e s c h e m e such as material type, p r o p e r t y s t u d i e d , o r p r o c e s s i n g m e t h o d . I n s t e a d the a u t h o r s assign topical k e y w o r d s to t h e i r p a p e r s , and r e a d e r s can rapidly b r o w s e t h r o u g h t h e m in the table of c o n t e n t s . T h i s j o u r n a l ' s success as judged by t h e high q u a l i t y p a p e r s c o v e r i n g a m y r i a d of m a terials topics in t h e first v o l u m e is, I t h i n k , evident. H o w e v e r , with a n y n e w j o u r n a l t h e r e a r e a l w a y s q u e s t i o n s from p o t e n t i a l a u t h o r s a b o u t t h e suitability of t h e i r w o r k for publication. T h e s e q u e s t i o n s a r e relatively easy to a n s w e r . A n y o n e , M R S m e m b e r o r n o t , w h o is r e p o r t i n g a c o n t r i b u t i o n to an interdisciplinary materials research problem is e n c o u r a g e d to s u b m i t a m a n u s c r i p t for publication in journal of Materials Research. Because of t h e topical b r e a d t h of t h e dist i n g u i s h e d B o a r d of P r i n c i p a l E d i t o r s , a u t h o r s can be a s s u r e d of an a p p r o p r i a t e p e e r r e v i e w e v e n if several disciplines a r e significantly involved. Also, since jMR is s e n t to all M R S m e m b e r s and h u n d r e d s of libraries, t h e r e a d e r s h i p of t h e j o u r n a l is v e r y broad as well. A n o t h e r publications issue, h o w e v e r , s e e m s to be confusing r e s e a r c h e r s w h o c o m e to o u r m e e t i n g s to p r e s e n t t h e i r r e c e n t w o r k . Since m a n y of o u r symposia s u b s e q u e n t l y p u b l i s h a p r o c e e d i n g s to which s p e a k e r s a r e expected to c o n t r i b u t e , t h e q u e s t i o n of w h e t h e r t h e i r p a p e r s may be published in Journal of Materials Research in addition to (or, instead of) t h e p r o c e e d i n g s has a r i s e n n u m e r o u s t i m e s . T h i s q u e s t i o n w a s carefully c o n s i d e r e d by t h e Publications C o m m i t t e e , t h e officers, and t h e M R S C o u n c i l before journal of Materials Research w a s e s t a b l i s h e d — a n d t h e a n s w e r is no. T o u n d e r s t a n d the r e a s o n i n g behind this, it is helpful to r e v i e w a little of t h e Society's h i s t o r y . M R S w a s founded to i n t r o
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