Publication of the Non-Secret Results of AEC Supported Research

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ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION PVBLICATION OF TXE NON-SECRET RESULTS OF AEC Report by the Director of Information Services_ 1. To establish a Commission policy concerning aidin financing the publication of the non - secret results of research and development activities sponsored and supported by the Commission innon - profit journals of the scientific societies, BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSI ON 2. One of the stated purposes of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 is to provide, "among others,for the following major programs relating to atomic energy.,.(2)A program for the control of scientific and technical information which will permit the disse rai nation of such information to encourage scientific (a))that "It shall be the policy of the Commission to control the dissemination of restricted data in such a manner as t o assure the common defense and security. policy,the Commission shall be guided by the following principles.., " (2) That the dissemination of scientific and technical information relating to atomic energy should be permitted and encouraged s o as t o provide that free interchange of ideas and criticisms whick, is essential to sci en tiff c progress. 'I The Act states further (SeC. 10 Consistent with such 3 a The AEC has encouraged project scientists to make their own arrangements for the publication of non-secret research results in the established journals of scientific and Out of approximately 3,500 de class if i CHIVES-' rcommunication, unclassified reports prizpared by the Manhattan Dist ric Rend them

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scientific journals, The following tables indicate the journals and years of publication: TOTAL AEC REPORTS FUE,LIS€ED I N SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS TO APPROXIMATELY SEPT. 30, 19.50 J, Am, Chem. Soc, Ind. Eng. Chem. No, Articles !To. Pages No. F z tic les No. Pages Articles Pages

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TOTAL AEC REPORTS PUB.LISHED I N SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS APPROXIMATELY SEPT. 3 0 , 1950 BY YEAR Jcurnal Yzae Articles L a g s..-- 4. During the past year,the Office of Naval Research and the Atomic Energy Commission have made available to the American Institute of Physics some $40,000 to defray part of the cost of publishing the results of research sponsored by ONR and AEC. is generally agreed that although such a payment was justified as an emergency measure, it does not provide an adequate mechanism for assessing the proportion of publication costs which should equitably be borne by the Office of Naval Research, the AEC,or similar Federal agencies even if the principle is generally accepted that it is desirable and proper to levy upon the agency responsible for doing research,a charge for the publication of results of that research.

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5. A t the Conference on Primary Publication on February 11, 1950 called by the National Research Council there was general agreement among editors of scientific journals and representatives of government agencies that payment for the costs of publication based upon a fixed charge per page published represented the best methods of providing this equitable assessment of charges to the institutions, commercial laboratories, and federal laboratories sponsoring research. 6. The problem created for the scientific journals by the volume of research results and a suggestion for a method of meeting the situation is contained in a communication tothe Division of In f hr mati on Services from the American Institute of "There i s no doubt i n our minds that increased federal support of scientific research in the field of physics,is resulting In a staggering load of material for publication.In the field of physics, it is a recognized principle that the cost of publication Is considered to be an essential part of the cost of se search and academic institutions and research laboratories regularly pay a per page charge toward the cost of publication of research pages submitte d by the physicists whom they employ, If it were possible for organizations,doing scientific research, t o pay a realistic page charge t o cover allor most of the actual cost of publication or research results,this would go a long WE.^ toward alleviating the crisis 7. Recently we have been informed by the American Institute of Physics that the Brookhaven National Laboratory has refused t o honor a page cost assessment riiade by the Institute for publication in one of.its jocrnals. The Laboratory advises that its refusal to pay page costs was based primarily on desire to 8. The Division of Biology and Medicine reports the existence of a large nunber of unpublished scientific papers resulting from research supported by the Atomic Energy Commission

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dealing with methods of synthesizing labelled compounds, The fact that these papers are not made generally available means that there is a real possibility that there is a duplication of effort and expense in va.rious laboratories and universities o u t - side the Atomic Energy E'roject,. If the Commission affirms the desirability of paying page costs for the publication of the results of the research which it sponsors, systematic arrangements can be made f o r tke publication of these papers in regular 9. Existing Commission contracts with research organizations contain diverse types of authorization pertaining to publication of 'research results and many existing contracts make no mention of publication. For example, the following contracts contain no express reference to the payment for publication of a. The contract with the University of California b. The contract with the University of California c. The contract with Carbide and Carbon Chemicals d . The contract with the Oak Ridge Institute of e. The contract with General Electric, to operate Los Alamos. to operate the Radiation Laboratory. Corporation to operate the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This does not necessarily mean, of course, that such costs are not reimburseable under more general provisions of these contracts. 10. The contracts with the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa both contain paragraphs providing reimbursement "Disbursements inade by the Contractor as authorized or approved by the Co.ntracting Officer in connection with the publication of scientific articles relating to the work of the Laboratory and the purchase of reprints of

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11. The contract with the Associated Universities to operate Brookhaven National Laboratory authorizes expenditures for : "The dissemination and publication of unclassified scientific and technical data and operating experience developed in the course of the work, i n accordance with such poll cie s as may be established by the Commission i n accordance with the provisions of the Atomic Energy Act 12. The policy of paying page costs to in sure the public a - tion of AEC research in the regular scientific journals has many advantages over the alternative policies which the Commission 13. A t one extreme, the AEC could take a position that it has no responsibility for the publication and general dissemination of the non - secret results of the research which it sponsors other than to permit its publication. 14. At the other extreme, the AEC could undertake .Its own publishing program, inaugurate its own scientific journals, and provide a general dissemination of research reports to the scientific community and to the public, Other government the National Bureau of Standards,the National Institutes of Health, have adopted programs of this sort as best calculated to meet their obligations to both the select scientific community and the general public which pays the bill. 15. Such programs are expensive. They tend to duplicate and compete with non-governmental organs of scientific publication.This competition may create tensions between private scientific societies and government agencies. Further, most scientists would prefer to publish their results in the scientific journals sincl? such publication usually results in wider distribution than (does publication in a government report

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or journal. The NACA and the NIH do maintain prestige journals but it is unlikely that the Commission could create in the fields of physics,chen is try, and biology,journals which could match in p rest lge the leading private journals in these fields. 16. It seems that the AEC practice of relying on the regular journals to accomplish a major portion of the publication and dissemination of the results of AEC supported research with a limited supplementary program of AEC publication of material unsuitable for journal publication is both effective and economical; but it is not; realistic unless it is based on a policy which recognizes that the cost of publication is part of the cost of res a arch. This means that the AEC must not only permit the journals to publish its material ; i t must pay on the same basis as colleges,universities and private laboratories now do apart of the costs of’ such publication. The page cost formula, as opposed to outright grants or subsidies,presents a definite measure of the costs which might be assumed by AEC and by other research agencies contributing to the journals, 17. Aside from questions of saving to the Commission and prestige to the individual scientist,publication in regular scientific journals is preferable to government publication because it insures effective dissemination of the material published.This Is especially true with reference to the journals published by the major scientific societies. E. g.,the Journal of the American Chemical Society goes regularly to 20,000 chemists ; the Physical Review goes regularly to 10,000 physicists,Publication in scientific journals also enables the Commission and its contractors to secure reprints for special distribution within and without the Atomic Energy projects. The Government itself has no apparatus for dissemination which approaches ineffectiveness this method of journal and reprint

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18. The Divisions of Production,Reactor Development, Military Application,Finance, Biology and Medicine, Research, and Information Services have concurred in this paper. The Office of General Counsel has s.dvised that there is no legal object fon to the recommerded action... 19. With reference t.0 the results of non - secret AEC that free inter cheng c of ideas and criticisms which is essential to scientific progress " can best be met by supporting the public a - tion of AEC research in established scientific journals,This support, where requiring financial aid, should be based on a definite charge per page published, 20. The payment of page costs to non - profit journals in order to enable such journals to publish AEC research on a current a. The most effective form of dissemination. b , The type of dissemination which is desired and endorsed by project scientists and the general and useful dissemination. c . The most ecoiiomical method of insuring both wide 21. It i s recommended that the General Manager: a. Approve the policy of authorizing payment of page costs for the publication in non - profit journals published by scientific societies of the non - classified results of research and development activities sponsored and supported by the Commission. b. Approve the implementation of this policy by the modification of GM-81t o include the paragraphs set forth

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ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION Technical Information Service Collection and Distribution of AEC Research and Development -Reports and Provision of AEC Technical Information Services FOR: Washington Headquarters and all Managers of Operations. d o Publication in Scientific and Technical Journals. In order to forward the dissemination of scientific and technical information, scientific and technical personnel employed by the AEC! and its contractors a r c authorized and encouraged to subm3.t unclassified and declasslfied reports to established scientific and technical journals for publication in eccordance with standard research practice. e. It is the established policy of certain non-profit scientific journale published by scientific societies to charge its contributors on a page basis for the publicntion of material tl-ey submit, or to charge on a page basis f o r a special number or supplement. Cost type research or development contracts may provide for reimbursement to contractors for payment of page costs to non-profit Journals under these circumstances. To the extent practicable lump sum research or development contracts should provide for the publication of unclassified or declassified reports in scientific

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f. The Technical Information Service will make periodic reports, annually or oftener as required, to the General Manager and the Program 3lvisions on the number of IiEC articles published in scientific journals and the costs of such publicaticn.