Communicating Original Research in Chemistry and Related Sciences

Lorrin R. Garson was born in Virginia, Minnesota. He received his B.A. from the University of California at Riverside in 1961 and M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Maine in 1964 and 1967. He was on the faculty in the Medicinal Chemistry Department, College of Pharmacy, at the University of Tennessee in Memphis from 1967 to 1974. In 1974, he joined the staff of the American Chemical Society in the Publications Division. His research interests in the past 30 years have focused on employing technology for the efficient creation of publications and electronic delivery of chemical information.

The availability of scientific information in electronic form is the convergence of traditional journal publishing, electronic communications, and the widespread availability of computer technology. This revolution in scientific communication has its roots in developments that started in the mid-19th century and culminated with the extraordinary progress in telecommunications and computer technology in the latter years of the 20th century. Eighty-three percent of scientific journals are now available online. The benefits of electronic journals include rapid publication, instantaneous linking to external information sources, and the capability to deliver new types of information. To date neither electronic-only nor preprint servers have been well received by the chemical sciences community. Continued advances in telecommunications, computer technology, and acquisition of scientific data in structured formats hold promise for even greater advances in communication of scientific information.