REVIEW OF REFERATIVNYY ZHURNAL, KHIMIYA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700200154-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 31, 2011
• Sequence Number: 154
• Publication Date: October 8, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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CLASSIFICATION s-L-C-R-E-T
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT Scientific - Chemistry, literature
HOW
PUBLISHED Bimonthly periodical
WHERE
PUBLISHED Moscow
DATE
PUBLISHED 1953, 1954
LANGUAGE Russian
LATI04 of ITS
Referativnyy Zhurnal, Ithimiya
CD NO.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1953-1951.
DATE DIST. 9 Oct 1954
NO. OF PAGES 6
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
REVTPI OFREFERATIVNYY ZIRJRNAL KHIDIIYA"
The preliminary report on the new Soviet Abstract journal,
R_eferativnyny Zhurna7, Khimiva hereir,diter abbreviated RZh Khim), describes
the format, ccaiposi.tion features, and some other characteristics of the pe-
riodical._ This report surreys the first eight consecutive issues of the pe-
riodical and attempts to answer such questions as how effective a vehicle it
is for keeping the Soviet scientist abreast of Western developments, and
whether or not it will decrease Soviet dependence on Western abstract journals.
In evaluating REh it,im certain comparisons are made with Chemical Abstracts of
the American Chemical Society. Analytical and statistical date have been as-
sembled in three tables and a graph (Tables 1, 2, 3; Figure 1). Table 1 shows
how the references (abstracts, book reviews, dissertations, patent descriptions,
etc.) in RZh IOiim. ha:e been distributed quantitatively by subject. Each num-
ber represents the percent of total references for a particular subject in the
issue. Thus, in issue No 1, 1953, (which consisted of 1,297 references) 37.8
percent of the total was devoted to the subject of chemical technology.
Table 2 is analogous to Table 1 and lists the corresponding information
for Chemical Abstracts Table 3 lists the actual number of references to work
done in orbit countries, by country.
The total number of references to work
done in non-orbit countries is given is the last colw:n for comparison.
RZh Khim itself does not appear to be too effective a means of keeping the
Soviet scientist abreast of scientific developments in the West. Examination
of the periodical reveals that although all of the major scientific Journals are
covered, they are not covered as extensively as they are in Chemical Abstracts.
RZh Khim contains about 2,000 references per issue. Chemical Abstracts has
3,000-5,000 and Chemical Abstracts covers 5,236 periodicals. It is still not
known how many or what periodicals are covered in RZh Khim althou
No 1 it was stated that a list will be included in one of the early 1954is
issues.
Chemical Abstracts has a larger list of abstractors than RZh Khim. Table 3
indicates that about 75 percent of the abstracts in each issue are of non-orbit
origin.
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Since the major abstract journals of the West Is
(Chemical Abstracts, Chemie-
es Zentralblatt) are so much more commc-ehensive than RZh Khi, it is not likely
that the availability of the latter will decrease dependence on them to any
extent. It is true that RZh Khim has a more complete coverage of Orbit lite great
chture than the western abstract journals, but in an over-all sense, the Soviet
scientist must still resort to the western abstract journals for a complete and
would preferonotato oref the
himself scientific
to n just one progress.
abstract Moreover, any scientist
nature of abstracting is such that no two abstractors would owrite,identicale ab-
stracts on the same material.
In evaluating the relative importance of RZh Khim and foreign abstract
journals to USSR scientists, one must also take into consideration the fact that
RZh Khim at this stage is not the only available source of information in the
Russian language on work done abroad: Khimiya i Khimicheskava Tekhnolotiva pub-
lishes abstracts and translations of foreign chemical articles and patents,
while Usrekhi F3himii gives extensive reviews of foreign chemical
It is quite possible however, gn that the relative coverage, of foreign dsechemica
publications by ? these two periodicals will decrease as ELI im e
xpands the vol-
ume of its abatra;.ting and becomes more firmly established.Kh
Tables 1 atsd 2 indicate that, as to subject, Soviet emphasis is similar to
that of the West. For the sake of comparison, issue No 5, 1953, of RZh Khim
and Vol 41, "]c 2 0, 1.953, of Chemical Abstracts were chosen. The data from Tables
1 and 2 for each periodical were plotted on Fi
curves in3icatU: the approximately (lure 1. The similarity of the
equal emphasis. The dissimilarity for physical
chemistry tenon.;' to become minimized in other issues.
Statistical analysis also bears out the predominance of the applied aspects
of chemistry in RZh Khim. Table 1 shows that at least one third of all the ref-
erences are devoted to the subject of chemical technology. This fraction is not
as consistent in Chemical Abstracts (see Table 2).
Me muss-=r of references to literature at
present
scientists, !a:er appear in RZh Khim are not very great (less athanloneo the Western
the total,'. Tus, in issue No 2, 1 percent of
12 were to nra?.?,iJnble ,A 953, which consisted of 354 references only
_ricdicais.
T time 1-16 between the publi
apF'earan cation of an article in a periodical and the
'-5 of its abstract varies grc-atly. It depends on such factors as the
degree of circ'zl'Lion of the periodical, detection of the article by an editor,
and the availability and efficiency of the abstractor. However, after checking
a number of rr-fer,?nces to such well-known periodicals as Journal of the American
Chemical S;ciety and Dokladv Akademii Pau? SSSR, it was found that the time lag
was about the ssme i'nr both 4-u months For tho more obscure periodicals, this
time lug :a; Hach greater (s year in some cases).
Titis time liu, las, vary considerably for the same
erences to thr_ periodical. ref-
?ournu_ of the American Chemical Society were found that were 8
and 9 months old. This was probably because of a work load on the abstractor.
The ab,3tracl,-)r: themselves are scientists working on various projects and proba-
bly do the ab t.recting in their spare time, as is the case in the US. This is
indicated by the names of the persons listed as abstractors in issue No 6, 1953.
Table 3 was included in this report to show how the references were distrib-
uted among the Orbit countries. It is seen at a glance that the USSR is the ma-
jor contributor with East Germany running second. This latter fact is a refhtation
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of what was stated on the basis of Issue No 1, 1953, of RZh Khim
regarding the scarcity of German references. Another change that has taken
place since the publication of Issue No 1, is the change in the heading "General
Laboratory Techniques." This heading now reads "General Laboratory Equipment.
Quality Control Apparatus."
Certain developments in the succeeding issues of RZh Khim, not apparent in
Issue No 1, were also noted. Some abstracts now also include drawings of appara-
tus or mechanical parts. This is a feature lacking in the abstracts published
in Chemical Abstracts. No references to USSR or satellite patents were found in
any of the issues of RZh Khim. Also, no dissertations of scientists other than
those active in the JSSR appeared in issues 1-6, 1953? Issues 1 and 2, 1954, how-
ever, do mention a few PhD theses of Western (USA and French) scientists. These
theses were published by the universities in their own periodicals. Page 3,731
of RZh Khim, No 6, 1953, contains a list of the abstractors and their fields of
specialization. These abstractors contributed to issues 1-6, 1953.
In conclusion, it should be reiterated that it is still too early to make
any absolute conclusions on this abstract journal. The above information should
be considered only as an indication of trends. Dr. E. J. Crane, the editor of
Chemical Abstracts, has this to say of RZh Khim? "This journal is too new for
us to know much about its extensiveness, but the abstracts appear to be well-pre-
pared." He made this comment in a short article written for Chemical and Engi-
neering News, Vol 32, No 30, July 26, 1954, p 2,990, entitled Three Chemical
Abstract Journals,' where he discusses Chemical Abstracts, Chemisches Zentral-
blatt, and RZh Khim.
Appended tables and graph follow:
table 1. Distribution of References by Percent of Total
ii,RZh 111101, Issues 1-6, 1953, and Issues 1-2, 1954)
Issue Number
'- 3 1i 1
1 2
Chemical Iechnclogy
37.3
33,9
34.0
33.6
34.5
36.2
33.4
36.4
Physical hemietty
17.3
16.1
14.1
11.7
14.5
14.6
13.5
14.5
Biological Chetnista-,,
15.5
15.1
20.6
22.4
24.8
24.6
24.6
22.1
Organic Chemistry
137
11.2
10.7
11.2
10.0
9.7
8.9
11.1
Analytical Chemistry
5.2
9.6
5.8
7.2
4_.
5.9
5.6
4.4
Corrosion
3.5
2.7
1.6
3.0
3.0
2.1
5.4
2.6
Processes
2.4
2.2
2.6
3.1
1.8
1.9
2.0
2.2
General
1.2
4.0
3.5
3.4
3.0
2,8
2.1
2.2
Safety and Sanitation
0.8
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.3
0.5
0.9
0.6
Inorganic Chemistry
0.8
1.3
2.0
1.6
1.6
1.1
1.2
1.0
Geochemistry and Hydro-
chemistry
0.2
n 7
O
a,-iicy conzro.i.
1.3
2.2
2.2
1.4
1.0
1.3
0,7
2.4
3-
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Table 2. Distribution of References in Percent of Total (Chemical Abstracts)
Sub ect
Vol
47, o 20 Vol 47`0 ?l Vol l18
No 2
Chemical Technology
Physical Chemistry
Biological Chemistry
Organic Chemistry
Analytical Chemistry
Corrosion
Processes
General
Safety and Sanitation
Inorganic Chemistry
Geochemistry and Hydro-
chemistry
Quality Control
30.0
25.0
23.6
11.1
0.9
3.0
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27.0
21.0
35.8
7.0
22.2
2.5
1.7
34.5
12.6
25.6
17.6
2.6
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Table 3. Distribution of Orbit References (RZh Khim, issues 1-6, 1953 and 1-2, 1954)
Czecho- Bul- Connnu-
Issue USSR Poland GDR slovakra nist. Total Total Ref- Total
aria Hungary Rumania China Orbit erences Non-Orbit
1 320 17 2 8 0
0 2 2 351 1297 2 256 25 5 17 7 1 0 0 1 305 1354 1048
3 277 11 16 16 0 5 1 0 4 310 1524 1224
303 22 34 29 1 6 4 7 405 1787 1382
5 354 23 39 17 2 6 0 451 2015 1564
6 293 16 25 31 5 3 6 1
1 ~ 380. 2060 1680
X56 22 35 22 5 15 1
2 458 2236 1778
2 231 20 22 26 4 6 2
5 316 1307 1491
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