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woe ee: han J. Lederberg

WAR 22 7A

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Institute for Scientific Information
325 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106, U.S.A.
Telephone: 215/923-3300

Telex: 84-5305
Cable: SCINFO

March 21, 1973

Dr. Orio Ciferri
Istituto di Genetica
Universita di Pavia
via Sant’ Epifanio, 14
27100 Pavia, Italy

Dear Professor Ciferri:

Dr. Lederberg has sent me your letter to him of March 8, 1973,
concerning Plant Science Letters. I regret that you did not write

to me personaliy beiore but I am very glad to learn of Josh's interest
in this problem,

With few exceptions, I do not recall a journal about which I have had
more discussions in a long time. When I was in Strasbourg last fall
I explained ISI‘’s problems in great detail to Professor Weil,

Since I am at home now recovering from the flu, I want to get off a
quick note to you assuring you that the matter is being attended to

from our side. But your letter is the first time I have heard that
Elsevier is willing to subsidize the cost of covering your journal in
Current Contents/Life Sciences and thereby in the Science Citation Index.
I do recall that we had said we would cover the journal in Current
Contents/Avriculture, ‘dolovy & Unvironmental Sciences but that mar may be
eontingent upon buugetuny or other considerations, In order to add it
wo may have to drop some other journal.

 

Let me make it clear that journal selection in CC ig not conditioned

by payment of a fee. But then we must select those journals of widest
interest to our readers.

Cordially yours,

Eugene Garfield
President

SES oe ae

P.S, I have just teurned that the problem is one involving the signing

by Elsevier of a standard copyright agreement and the renegotiation
of oxisting obligations on our part to provide their journal editors
Dr. Orio Ciferri
Page Two
March 21, 1973

exchange complimentary subscriptions to Current Contents. We
can no longer afford the latter and we need the protection of
the copyright agreement, which we have obtained from Academic,
Blackwell, etc.

If the agreement is signed we intend to cover six Elsevier
journals, including yours, in Current Contents/Agriculture, Biology
& Environmental Sciences, If your journal is to be covered in
Current Contents/Life Sciences this year and next, then we must
have the payment of S10 per article to cover the indexing and
listing costs involved. No one from Elsevier has indicated to us
that this fee will be paid. And, as I have said, we are still
avaiting ‘their further word on the agreement. I suggest you
telephone someone at the top in Elsevier to see what else can be
done to expedite the matter,

When dealing with such a large publisher it is impossible to make
individual ad hoc decisions about journals and I am sorry if you
feel you are caught in the crunch!