The presentation of documentation, library and archives journals and the ISO standards

Abstract

The article was originally published in the Unesco Bulletin for Libraries (vol. 29. no. 4.1975. p. 206-219.) The reason of its present publication is justified by the fact that it was referred to at the Second Symposium of Editors of Documentation, Library and Archives Journals held in Berlin, 4-7 September 1978, which has devoted considerable attention to the presentation of journals and to the fulfilment of the requirements of the relevant ISO standards. From the text of the ISO standards on the presentation of periodicals the author selected thirty requirements, the fulfilment of which could be unequivocally and quantitatively assessed. The adoption of these rules were controlled in 150 periodicals of 48 countries. The results are presented in 6 tables: the layout of periodicals in general; the bibliographical strip; the short contents list; presentation of contributions and synopses; bibliographical references; transliteration of cyrillic characters. It can be concluded that the adoption of the rules depends in many cases on the characteristics of the scientific and technical language of the country concerned, on the nature of the journal (theoretical, scientific or practical popular) etc. The data also indicate that the popularization of certain standards should be more intensive, while the text of others ought to correspond more closely to actual practice.