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International Academy of Astronautics

Article  in  Acta Astronautica · June 1997

DOI: 10.1016/S0094-5765(97)00222-1

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Acta AstronauticaVol. 17, No. 5, pp. ix-xii, 1988
Pergamon press plc. Printed in Great Britain

EDITORIAL

Acta Astronautica and Pergamon

Introduction
It is with great pleasure that I answer the kind invitation of Dr Elisabeth Maxwell to contribute in the double
celebration of Robert Maxwelrs 65th birthday and Pergamon's 40th Anniversary.
Among the Pergamon publications, I trust that Robert Maxwell has particularly at heart Acta Astronautica,
remembering what he said himself last year at the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the International
Academy of Astronautics (IAA) [l]:
" . . . I and Pergamon Press have been actively involved in publishing Acta Astronautica for
many years. I vividly remember meeting Theodore von K~rmfin and Charles Stark Draper
who founded the Academy and became Presidents during the early 1960s. After von Kfirmfin's
death in 1963 I was approached to publish the Academy journal which since 1955 had been
published by Springer-Verlag. I met with trustees of the Academy, including Andrew Haley,
Frank Malina and Martin Summerfield and was happy to conclude an agreement to provide
an advance royalty each year for the Academy to finance its operations. I am delighted to
report that this agreement continues today and reflects the cooperation and long association
between the Academy and Pergamon Press and my active support for the diffusion of space
technology research and international cooperation. I had the privilege of being appointed
an Honorary Member of the Academy in 1972 by Charles Stark Draper when he was
President..."
I am very glad to have the occasion to write these few words on the already long history of the Acta
Astronautica/Pergamon couple, as I have myself been closely related to Acta for quite a time. As Dr Elisabeth
Maxwell suggests, in her letter of invitation, to let loose old memories, let me say that I was introduced to
Acta some 30 years ago. I was at that time (1957-1959) a student at the Ecole Polytechnique, right in the
heart of the Paris Latin Quarter, and I often entered the American Library in the nearby rue des Ecoles, to
have a glance at recent scientific publications in English... a great part of which were issued by Pergamon.
I could not miss being attracted to this journal with the strange name Astronautica Acta, puzzled by its Latin
consonance, which found a certain resonance with my recent schooling on both arts and science, and attracted
by the magic word "Astronautics"--the first artificial satellite had just been lauched. Then I was getting lost
for a few moments within breathtaking articles which had the aplomb to deal, with elaborate mathematics,
with the entry into the atmospheres of the planets of the solar system. These brief readings may have played
a certain part in my future orientation towards research in the aerospace field. That is why I feel a sort of
debt towards this journal, and that I am particularly glad and honoured to be related, for some years now,
to its history.
The astronautical world knows well the present Acta Astronautica with its characteristic light blue cover
design by Frank Malina, where the representation of the Ursus Major constellation already evokes the
conquest of the stars. It is recalled, around its title, that it is the journal of the international Academy of
Astronautics, this international character being emphasized by this title repeated in four languages. In the
left hand corner, at the bottom, appears the publisher's name: Pergamon Press. But if the title Acta
Astronautica is now associated with IAA and Pergamon, it has not always been so.
Acta without Pergamon
When the journal first appeared in 1955, under the title Astronautica Acta, it was the "Official Journal
of the International Astronautical Federation" (IAF), and the publisher was Springer-Verlag, Vienna. The
Editor-in-Chief was F. Hetch. The journal, under a yellow cover, was printed single column and published
in four, then six issues per year, with abstracts in English, German and French.
In 1960, Theodore von Kfirm~n became Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, which then donned a blue cover.
From 1962 on, Acta became the "Journal of the (recently founded) I A A ' .
In 1963, at the death of van Kfirmfin, the journal continued with the co-Editors Frank J. Malina, Irene
Sanger-Bredt, Leonid I. Sedov and Raymond I. Siestrunck.
ix
x J.-P. MAREC

In 1965, Martin Summerfield became the Editor-in-Chief of the large format, white cover, two-column
"New Series", with P. Germain and O. Lutz as co-Editors.
When the contract of Springer-Verlag with the Academy expired in 1966, Pergamon Press in London was
approached, as already seen. "New arrangements which included financial support for the Academy were
accepted..."[2]. "It was felt that Pergamon would promote the Acta more aggressively, hopefully increasing
badly needed circulation"[3].

Acta with Pergamon

Aeta thus continued with Pergamon, from 1967 on.
In 1974, the new Editor-in-Chief, A. K. Oppenheim, introduced a number of changes[4]: modified title (Acta
Astronautica, "for the sake of proper grammar"[3]), blue cover, new format, monthly issues, special issues
on dedicated topics, new sections (Communications and Comments) for which prompt publication was
required. In particular Communications were " . . . short articles presented--in the manner of "Comptes
Rendus de l'Acadrmie des Sciences" or "Doklady Akademii N a u k " - - b y members.., of the Academy,
but not necessarily authored by them . . . . However... these contributions (were) subjected to a review
procedure . . . . The tradition of publishing translations of abstracts (was abandoned and) instead French and
Russian versions of the list of contents (was included)"[4]. To complete his editorial team, A. K. Oppenheim
was looking for an Associate Editor for Astrodynamics and M. Barrrre proposed my name. I met A. K.
Oppenheim during one of his visits to ONERA and he kindly accepted me to join the "common venture"
as he liked to say.
When he resigned his editorship, in October 1978, " . . . a radical change has been made in the editorial
structure: starting in 1979, responsibility for publication was delegated to an Acta Astronautica Trustees
Committee (AATC) composed of L. G. Napolitano (Chairman), M. Barrrre and A. Jaumotte . . . . Negotia-
tions with the publisher, Pergamon Press, made it possible to continue uninterrupted production of the journal
under the supervision of this Committee"[5]. Professor L. G. Napolitano offered me to assist him in the
editorship of the journal so that finally, for a transition period of one year, "... two Executive Editors, J.-P.
Marec and G. G. Chernyi, were appointed to handle the editorial tasks with the help of a Managing Editor
(Max Salmon)J5], and a team of Associate Editors. The Board of Trustees of the Academy expected that
"the new orientation of Acta Astronautica should be an incentive for closer contacts within the Academy
membership and for an increasing number of subscribers"[5].
This transition period of one year gave me and Max Salmon a lot of work, even with the benevolent help
of the AATC, G. G. Chernyi, the Associate Editors, the IAF/IAA Secretariat and the Publishers, Pergamon.
Our main tasks were to (i) ensure the continuous publication of the journal during this delicate transition
period; (ii) reduce the backlog of articles; (iii) define more precisely the journal operation and the role of the
different protagonists: AATC, Executive Editors, Managing Editor, Associate Editors, Reviewers, Secretariat,
publishers.., i.e. in some way, define the statutes of the journal; (iv) choose the Associate Editors; (v) set
up the review procedure in two steps (Associate Editor/Reviewer), with the writing of the necessary forms
and t h e . . , reminders! (vi) establish with the particular help of L. G. Napolitano, the special procedure for
the Academy Transactions Notes, similar to Oppenheim's Communications, but without review; (vii) ensure
a better balance between the topics, between regular and special issues (IAF Congresses, IAA Symposia,
dedicated topics), between articles and notes; (viii) try, with the help of the Publishers, to better promote the
journal.
All these efforts led to some success since the IAA Report for 198016] states: "The results of the first year
of operation of Acta Astronautica under the direction of the AATC was satisfactory. After this trial period,
changes in the editorial team were made as anticipated. The journal now has one Editor, J.-P. Marec
and three co-Editors: G. G. Chernyi, J. Grey and S. Saito. There are five Associate Editors (B. Egorov,
R. E. Lo, N. X. Vinh, K. A. Ehricke and R. I. Parks)...". In 1982, Pergamon proposed to change the journal
format and presentation (two columns) to better match with the usual Pergamon scientific publications and
reduce the number of pages for the same contents.
Following the election of Dr G. F. Mueller as President of IAA in 1983, several changes occurred:
- - a fourth Section of the Academy was created, for Social Sciences;
--the relations with the Committee of Space Research (COSPAR) were tightened;
--the respective roles of the IAA Scientific Committees and IAF Technical Committees were re-examined;
--the AATC was suppressed and the general policy of the journal was entrusted to the IAA Publications
Committee (IAA/PC), chaired by the Vice-President Publications (Dr R. Gibson and now Professor H. L.
Jordan);
- - I A A was entrusted with the publication of all selected papers of IAF Congresses; in particular the IAF
Congress Proceedings had to be published as an Acta Astronautica (red cover) special volume, printed from
camera-ready copies.
 Acta Astronautica and Pergamon xi

In view of these changes, Acta Astronautica had to adapt. It was the personal opinion of Dr G. E. Mueller,
who asked the co-Secretary General, A. L. Slotkin, to write a report on the status of Acta and make proposals
for the future. On my side, I wrote a rather long report, with the help of the Managing Editor, and both
reports, who agreed on most points, served as a basis for discussions and decisions taken at the IAF and IAA
Publication Committee meetings in Innsbruck in 1986. The main decisions were the following:
--the final selection of papers of IAF Congresses were to be made by L. G. Napolitano (in the name of the
IAF/PC) and myself (in the name of the IAA/PC);
--the Editorial team was modified as follows:
Editor-in-Chief: J.-P. Marec,
co-Editors: G. G. Chernyi, J. Grey, S. Saito
Associate Editors: M. Bignier, C. de Jager, E. Galloway, O. Gazenko, R. E. Lo, P. Santini, N. X. Vinh,
Guest Editor for Notes: L. G. Napolitano,
Guest Editors for Ex Mundo Astronautico: J. M. Contant, A. L. Slotkin
Publishers Liaison: M. J. Church;
--simplification of the procedure for the submission of notes: only one endorsement needed.
It is the way Acta is functioning now. But all these changes will be efficient only if the Publishers help us
even more.
Acta and Pergamon
During its 33 years of existence, Acta has spent 22 years with Pergamon, i.e. most of the time. The
publication of a journal, and especially of an international journal, is a "joint venture", the success of which
mostly depends on men.
My experience in the editorship of Acta told me that nothing can be done without the endless benevolent
efforts of all members of the Editorial Team. Let me take the liberty here to express again my thanks to all
of them, past and present, and extend our appreciation to the former Editors-in-Chief, F. Hecht, Th. von
Kfirmfin, M. Summerfield, A. K. Oppenheim, and to the AATC Chairman L. G. Napolitano.
But I also know that nothing can be done without the help of a competent publisher. I have already pointed
out the special interest that the Founder and Publisher of Pergamon Press, Robert Maxwell, shows to Acta.
I remember the time when I first met him. It was in Oxford, in early 1979. I went there in my new position
of Executive Editor, accompanied by the Managing Editor. We received a very friendly welcome and I was
pleased to see how this apparently very busy man knew how to take enough time to discuss the journal
matters. I remember that he was in particular very interested by the idea of the Academy Transactions Notes,
which were expected to transform Acta into a true Academy forum. The Pergamon executives in the U.K.
and U.S.A. complement the action of our editorial team, and ensure that Acta is a good product. I am
surprised to see how few misprints appear in the proofs submitted to authors--even in complex mathematics.
But publishing Acta has not always proceeded without difficulties. At the moment the journal appears
almost on time, but it has not always been the case. Important delays took place in the past, and the editorial
team was not the only one involved. In particular, the implementation of new setting machines at EPC/Dublin
did not proceed without drawbacks. The darkest period was when a fire and strikes at EPC/Dublin led to
the transfer of typsetting to the U.S.A. In the fire, 20 of our manuscripts were lost, and I had to repeat for
them the pre-editing operations before sending them anew to Pergamon.
The poor circulation of the journal remains a nagging problem, in spite of the effort of both IAA and
Pergamon, in particular towards Academy Members. Some progress was registered these last months,
especially by Pergamon who refined the publicity of the journal and took advantage of Academy meetings
during IAF Congresses to obtain on-the-spot subscriptions by IAA Members. But besides these difficulties
there were also bright hours.
These correspond to the timely publication of a high-quality journal, and this happens now more and more
frequently. This success is due to the joint efforts of the Editorial Team and of Pergamon.
Among the recent achievements, let me mention:
--rapid publication of the special issue on Japanese astronautics before the 1980 Tokyo Congress;
--in 1987, distribution well ahead of the Brighton IAF Congress, of:
the Proceedings of the previous Innsbruck Congress,
the Special Issue on that same congress,
a Special Issue on Space Stations, printed within four months from camera-ready copies.
a Special Issue on the IAA 25th Anniversary.
Conclusion
To mark the occasion, a complimentary copy of this 25th Anniversary issue has been presented to Dr G.
E. Mueller, President of the IAA, by M. Church on behalf of Robert Maxwell. This took place in the Royal
 xii J.-P. MAREC

Pavillion in Brighton, during the reception offered by Pergamon to the Academy. While handing out the issue,
M. Church declared Acta an "excellent publication", a compliment which refers altogether to the Academy,
its Publications Committee, its Editorial T e a m . . . and Pergamon themselves. Indeed, as we have already
pointed out, the Academy, Acta and Pergamon are undoubtedly tied together in this endeavour.
In his Introduction to the Special Issue[l] Robert Maxwell wrote on IAA: "On behalf of Pergamon Press
and the many tens of thousands of readers and contributors to Acta Astronautica, I should like to congratulate
the Academy on its strong achievement and extend our very best wishes for continued growth over the next
quarter of a century." We might answer to him: "On behalf of the IAA, its Publications Committee, the Acta
Editorial Team and the many tens of thousands of readers and contributors to Acta Astronautica, we should
like to congratulate Pergamon, and in particular Robert Maxwell, on its strong record of achievement and
extend our very best wishes, on the occasion of the twin Anniversaries of Pergamon and of Robert Maxwell,
for continuous cooperation over the next quarter of a century".
Let us leave the last word to the IAA President, D. G. E. Mueller. He said in his Introduction to the 25th
Anniversary Special Issue [7]: "The most important challenge facing the Academy and each of its members
is to build on what they have accomplished to this date, to define and then to implement the vision that will
lead all mankind to its destiny, to colonise the Solar System and ultimately to spread humanity to the stars.
To the Academy--may it lead us to the s t a r s . . . "
. . . and may Pergamon continue to help it in this task.
J.-P. MAREC
Editor -in -Chief

REFERENCES

1. R. Maxwell, Publisher's Introduction. Acta .4stronautica 15, No. 10, I (1987).

2. C. S. Draper, Acta prepares for the future. Acta Astronautica 1, No. 1-2, VI (1974).
3. F. I. Ordway III and M. Claudin, Building the organisation. Acta Astronautica 15, 779-805 (1987).
4. A. K. Oppenheim, Novus Modus Operandi. Acta Astronautica 1, No. 1-2, VII-VIII (1974).
5. C. S. Draper, Academy's Annual Report (1979).
6. C. S. Draper, Academy's Annual Report (1980).
7. G. E. Mueller. Introduction. Acta Astronautica 15, No. 10, XIX (1987).

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