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{
    "localId": "486498145",
    "label": "Report, OSI - 4/49, Central Intelligence Agency, Abstracting Services as an Intelligence Tool for Assessing Soviet Chemical Research",
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    "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"
    ],
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    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/486498145",
    "naId": 486498145,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 19,
            "logicalDate": "1949-12-19",
            "month": 12,
            "year": 1949
        }
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{
    "seq": 25,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875491/875491-03-025.tif",
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    "ocrText": "X. RESTRICTION IN PUBLICATION AND POSSIBLE EMBARGO\nON CHEMICAL PERIODICALS\nAs in the case of trends in chemical research, the data of this survey are simply\nnot adequate for determining whether there is any substantial restriction in the publica-\ntion of research findings or whether certain journals are subject to an embargo on for-\neign distribution. It is known that in 1947 an official decree stipulated that nothing should\nbe published that was inimicable to the security of the State, and one can only presume\nthat, considering the severe penalties associated with this decree, a decrease in publica-\ntion has occurred in certain fields. Confirmation of this assumption would require a\nstudy more detailed than this one. Based on the main journals of the Academy of Sciences,\nit is believed that such a study is entirely practicable and would give positive information.\nStatistically speaking, the decree against publication has had no apparent effect.\nFor example, the 33 journals which were abstracted in either 1947 or 1948 and also in\n1941 gave 2,587 abstracts in 1941, and 2,212 abstracts in 1947-1948, 86 percent of the\n1941 volume. There is no evidence to show that this decrease in publication is not the\nresult of the upset conditions during the war and it may be a good measure of the extent\nto which research in Russia has recovered since the war. Incidentally, this 86 percent\ncan be compared with a world-wide trend amounting to a 65 percent recovery in publica-\ntion for 1947 as compared with 1938.\nStatistics on the effect of the 1947 official decree stipulating that nothing should\nbe published inimicable to the security of the State can be very misleading. For example,\nwhereas the number of abstracts in certain selected journals in the prewar and the post-\nwar periods has held up as well as could be expected, it may well be that the subject\nmatter treated in these articles has been substantially restricted because of this decree,\nand that, therefore, their importance for intelligence purposes has been considerably\nlessened. The data upon which this paper is based do not cover this point.\nSpecific instances can be cited where a journal known to be published in Russia is\nnot available to certain subscribers in this country. There is, however, no evidence that\nshipment in these cases was prohibited. On the contrary, examination of the Annual of\nPeriodic Publications, USSR, 1946 lends considerable support to the idea that restrictions\non the receipt of Russian chemical periodicals in this country is caused principally by\nthe limited number of copies that are printed of a great many of the journals. What\nappear to be important journals may be published with only two to three hundred copies.\nThere is no reason to believe that this restriction on the number of copies is for any\nreason other than shortage of paper, printing facilities, and the like caused by the dis-\nruption of the war.\nCONFIDENTIAL\n- 18 -"
}