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From: citrin@ucbvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: CACM
Message-ID: <162@ucbvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 12-Dec-83 13:22:16 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.162
Posted: Mon Dec 12 13:22:16 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Dec-83 02:08:46 EST
References: ucbvax.131, <194@wxlvax.UUCP>
Organization: U.C. Berkeley
Lines: 24

From Richard Wexelblat:

	Wayne the C  should look at the stated purpose of CACM.  It's NOT
	to publish research.  There are many **dull** journals that do
	publish research.  Ho-hum.

Mr. Wexelblat may have a point in that it is indeed not the stated purpose
of CACM to publish research.  However, until the change in editorial format
earlier this year, CACM was one of the two readily available journals
(the other is IEEE Computer) that allowed readers to learn about research
outside of their own narrow fields of interest.  Most academic journals
are restricted to a specific area.  I regret the loss of this general
forum for the exchange of research results.  I suppose that now JACM will have 
to shift from its largely theoretical orientation to a more general
orientation to make up for it.

If one looks at the recently published 25th anniversary issue of CACM,
one will find that CACM *has* published research in the past, some of it
quite important and exciting.  The current editorial policy seems to
have abandoned this, and I fail to see how this is any less dull than
the dull journals that Mr. Wexelblat refers to.

Wayne Citrin
(ucbvax!citrin)