Scientific Communication in Educational Research.

This study focused on the production, dissemination, and assimilation of material published in the major journals on educational research--four "core" journals and three "tangential." Two questionnaires were used: one sent to the authors of all articles published in 1968 and 1969, and the second to the persons whom these authors cited as working in the same field. Analysis of the returns gave the information reported here, covering: (1) the background characteristics of the authors; (2) the average schedule for research work, report writing, article publication, and article citation in other journals; (3) the scope and effect of pre-publication reports; (4) rates of rejection and revision of manuscripts; and (5) the usefulness of the articles to known and unknown co-workers. The author makes several recommendations concerned with making the dissemination process quicker and more effective. (MM)