Information Processing & Mznogemenr Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 215-217. 1988 Printed m Great Britain.

03064573/88 $3.00 + .Otl Copyright 0 1988 Pergamon Press plc

Editorial

ROBERT MAXWELL AND INFORMATION PROCESSING: A Tribute to the 65th Birthday of Robert Maxwell,

40th Anniversary of Pergamon Press, and the 25th Anniversary of Information Processing & Management

In 1988, Robert Maxwell celebrates his 65th birthday and, as its founder, the 40th anniver- sary of Pergamon Press. We, the editors of Information Processing & Management, have particular reasons to note this anniversary and to express our appreciation for Maxwell’s foresight and support of information science. He saw the need for, and proposed the cre- ation of, this journal, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary. Initially, the jour- nal was titled Information Storage and Retrieval, Including Machine Translation. It was first published by Pergamon Press in 1963 with Professor Jason Farradane, of London, England, as Editor. Professor Farradane served as editor for the first three volumes and then resigned to devote himself to teaching and research.

Robert Maxwell appointed Bernard M. Fry, Dean of the School of Library and Infor- mation Science at Indiana University, Editor beginning in 1968. His task was to make this publication the premiere journal reporting the scientific developments in information science and associated areas of inquiry. This is still the journal’s basic goal. Beginning with Volume 4 (1969), the phrase “Including Machine Translation” was dropped from the title and the words “Theory and Practice” were added as a subtitle. The reason for this change was simply the recognition that support for applied machine translation studies had been severely curtailed as emphasis was placed on theoretical and basic research on language analysis and information processing. The papers selected for publication in the journal reflected this change in emphasis.

Members of the Editorial Board of Information Storage and Retrieval (IS&R), includ- ing Editor-in-Chief Bernard Fry and Associate Editors Professor Harold Borko of the Uni- versity of California at Los Angeles, and Professor Vladimir Slamecka of the Georgia Institute of Technology, met with Robert Maxwell in Stockholm in 1974 in conjunction with a meeting of the International Federation of Information Processing Societies (IFIPS). At this meeting, it was concluded that the scope of Information Storage and Retrieval should be expanded and the journal renamed Information Processing & Management (IP&M). It was agreed that although storage and retrieval were still central to informa- tion transfer, the journal title did not fully express the enlarged domain of information processing in contemporary society.

The reorganization of the ten-year-old IS&R journal and the new title were intended to reflect the interrelated developments in information processing efficiency and manage- ment that were producing rapid and significant changes in the generation, transmission, storage, retrieval, and utilization of information. These developments, together with advances in computers, networks, and reprographic technologies, led to an accelerating growth in the literature of information processing and management as reflected in the jour- nal’s contents and the interests of the readers. The title change from Information Storage and Retrieval to Information Processing & Management was more than a change in name. It was a reflection of change in editorial policy which, in turn, was due to a recognition that information has become a critical component for interdisciplinary research, manage- ment, and policy making. It was also due to a recognition of the emerging interests in information management in libraries and other organizations in which information plays an important role [l].

The editorial policy of the journal of Information Processing & Management con- tinues to change in order to keep up with new developments in the field. In 1985, Dean

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216 Editorial

Fry became Professor Emeritus and retired from both his professorial commitments and from the editorship of ~~~~r~fft~~~ Processing & Management. He was succeeded by Professor Tefko Saracevic of the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Associate Editors and members of the Editorial Board continued after the changeover and some new editors were appointed, thus assuring continuity and progress as the journal moved rapidly to address current developments in information science and management. These changes are reflected in the journal’s new Aims and Scopes [2].

Succinctly stated, the aims of Information Processing & Management are to provide an international forum for publishing works on:

0 Basic and applied research in information and communication studies; l Experimental and advanced procedures in the application of communication tech-

nology; and l Management of information resources, systems, and networks.

To accomplish these aims, the journal publishes refereed reports on:

1. Research on the formal characteristics and properties of information, the processes of communication, and the effects of information transfer;

2. Te~hnologic~ applications of information processing, particularly those involving language analysis and information storage and retrieval;

3. Economics of information such as studies on information value and impact, and on the performance and evaluation of information systems;

4. Management of information resources and systems including studies on the flow of information within and between information systems to further organizational objectives; and

5. Information policy issues pertinent to local, national, and international organi- zations.

Throughout these many changes, Information Processing CC Management has had a constant compass represented by the continuing steadfast guidance of Robert Maxwell. Not only has Maxwell had an abiding interest in information science, but he has had the vision and the entrepreneurial experience to foresee future developments in information technol- ogy and their impact on society. He has been, and to this present day continues to be, on the leading edge of the vast transformations brought about by the expanding information and telecommunication industries. As a publisher, Maxwell did not limit himself to stan- dard journal and book publications. For example, he published translations of Russian journals that were very needed in the 195Os, following Soviet accomplishments in space technology and related fields. Later, he became increasingly involved in the publication of patent information issued by the United States and also by the governments of Japan, Ger- many, and other countries where research activities were flourishing but were little known in the English-reading world.

We, the editors of Z~formatio~ Processing C? management, have benefited greatly from Maxwell’s interest in information processing, his foresight in discerning trends and his ability to identify important new developments. He participated in, and was the pre- sentation speaker at, the First Cranfield Conference on Mechanized Information Trans- fer in 1967 [3], and he continued to support this conference for many years thereafter. For some of the journal’s editors, Maxwell is more than their publisher; he is a warm and sym- pathetic colleague who has a sincere interest in their careers and editorial activities. We were invited to visit Pergamon’s headquarters at Headington Hill Hall and to observe their publishing operations ourselves. Serving as editors of a Pergamon Press journal has been a valuable and enlightening experience, and we take this opportunity to express our appreciation to Robert Maxwell and to extend our best wishes for his birthday and the anniversary of Pergamon Press. May they both be with us for many, many years!

Editorial 217

This special issue, under guest editor Tadeusz Radecki, is a collection of articles from leading researchers in information retrieval. They address the important problem of trans- lating research results into practical applications. This critical issue is, or should be, of great concern to both the research community and the information industry. If research results aimed at information retrieval systems (or information systems in general) are not eventually applied and proven on a scale larger than a laboratory, such research will atro- phy. If innovation in the information industry based on scientific research is not forthcom- ing, for whatever reason, the progress in information systems will inevitably deteriorate into manipulation of the form rather than improvement in the substance; innovation based on the deployment of new technologies and/or market analysis alone is not enough. Exam- ples from other research areas and industries abound.

It is entirely fitting that this special issue in tribute to Robert Maxwell and the Per- gamon and Information Processing & Management anniversaries address the connection between research and practice, because this is the underlying interest of all.

Bernard M. Fry Tefko Saracevic Harold Borko

February 6, 1988

REFERENCES

1. Fry, Bernard, M. Editorial: A change in title and scope to meet changing needs. Information Processing & Management ll(l):i; 1975.

2. Saracevic, Tefko. Changing of the guard-Editorial policies of Information Processing & Management. Infor- mation Processing & Management 21(1):1-3; 1985.

3. Maxwell, Robert. Presentation speech. Information Processing & Management 4(1):87-90; 1968.