Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "486498145",
    "label": "Report, OSI - 4/49, Central Intelligence Agency, Abstracting Services as an Intelligence Tool for Assessing Soviet Chemical Research",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/486498145"
}

{
    "id": "486498145",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/486498145",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Report, OSI - 4/49, Central Intelligence Agency, Abstracting Services as an Intelligence Tool for Assessing Soviet Chemical Research",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/486498145",
    "collections": [
        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
        "Intelligence Files"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875491/875491-03-001.tif",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875491/875491-03-001.tif",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875491/875491-03-001.tif",
    "imageCount": 80,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/486498145",
    "naId": 486498145,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 19,
            "logicalDate": "1949-12-19",
            "month": 12,
            "year": 1949
        }
    ],
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 21,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875491/875491-03-021.tif",
    "mediaId": "6416f960db1055e1",
    "ocrText": "CONFIDENTIAL\nthis country after the same period of time. To confine the comparison to this country\nwould, of course, work to the disadvantage of Chemisches Zentralblatt. In the case of both\njournals, the average period of time elapsed between the publication of an article and the\nappearance of its abstract is approximately nine months, and, at that time, 50 percent of\nthe total abstracts have already appeared in print.\nFigure 6 is based upon the same data as Fig. 5, but shows the percentage of the\ntotal journals that have appeared in print after any given number of months. It is inter-\nesting to note that Chemical Abstracts succeeds in getting the bulk of its material abstract-\ned in between 7 to 13 months after the article has appeared originally. The peak is at\neight months when 24 percent of the total abstracts has been printed. Principally because\nthe editorial staff of Chemisches Zentralblatt does much of the abstracting, this service\nmanages to get 5 percent of the abstracts in print in 5 months, 12 percent in 6 months, and\n25 percent in 7 months as compared with 1 percent, 2 percent, and 8 percent respectively\nfor Chemical Abstracts. But the advantage in this area of the curve over the performance\nof Chemical Abstracts is lost for over-all considerations by the longer period required\nfor other abstracts. The graphs for Chemical Abstracts in both figures are based on an\naverage interval of three months between the cover date and the publisher's date. Were\nsimilar curves to be drawn on a current basis, as Appendix 6 shows, in both figures each\npoint on the graph for Chemisches Zentralblatt would be moved to the right by three months.\nThis means that currently Chemisches Zentralblatt is that much less suitable as an intel-\nligence tool than is Chemical Abstracts.\nChemical Abstracts renders a service designed primarily to serve the research\nand development workers in the United States. Trade news and the economic abstracts of\nthe chemical industry are not covered by this service. Since it is always a matter of a\nfew years up to a period of as much as 10 years or more before discoveries in theoretical\nand applied science result in producing a new commercial product or in the introduction\nof a new process, the authors firmly believe that unlike economic, political, and trade\ninformation, a lag of 9 to 17 months in the receipt of the type of subject matter covered\nby Chemical Abstracts does not detract materially from its intelligence value.\n2.\nCompleteness of Coverage and Time Required for Publication of Abstracts from Five\nImportant Soviet Journals\nFive important Soviet journals were selected for this study. Those selected were\nActa Phys icokhimya, Journal of Applied Chemistry, C. R. of the Academy of Sciences of the\nUSSR, Journal of General Chemistry, and Journal of Physical Chemistry. Figures 7 through\n11 show the results of this survey.\nThe average time consumed in shipping the journals from the USSR to the United\nStates was approximately 4.5 months but varied from as little as two months to as much\nas seven months. The average time required by Chemical Abstracts to publish the\nabstracts\nwas somewhat more than three months and varied from three weeks to eleven months.\nThus, on the average eight months elapsed between publication of an article in one of the cases, five\nSoviet journals studied and publication of its abstract by Chemical Abstracts.\nIn\nall\nexcept one, Chemical Abstracts received the journal issue before the Library of Congress.\nConsiderable improvement in the speed with which abstracts are published could\nbe achieved, therefore, by expediting the shipment of the journals, by increasing the num-\nber of abstracters, and by increasing the number of copies of the journals received in the\nUnited States.\nThe average time which elapsed between publication of an article in the five Soviet\njournals studied and publication of its abstract by Chemisches Zentralblatt was approxi-\nmately nine months. Consequently, as was found by the general survey, little difference\nin speed of coverage existed between the two journals.\nCONFIDENTIAL\n- 14 -"
}