The editorial processing center

Although computer technology has been introduced into virtually every phase of scientific communication, relatively little use has yet been made of it in primary dissemination, perhaps because of the limited operational scale of the typical scientific publisher. An Editorial Processing Center (EPC) is conceived as a mechanism for combining small publishing operations to achieve a scale great enough for significant computerization while leaving each editor in full command of his own publication. The EPC's computer assists authors, editors, and referees to perform their essential, intellectual functions by relieving them of nonessential, programmable functions. Its final output is a magnetic tape for use in photocomposition. Its potential benefits include immediate operating economies, more effective communication, a base for innovation in the form of publication, and benefits to secondary processors and analysis centers. A number of questions remain, however, chiefly in relation to the exact operating point at which any given configuration would become economically advantageous. Work is in progress to provide the answers.