The Creation And Development Of The United States, "physical Review"

As the most important tool to exchange scientific information, scholarly journals were born in the 70th century, with the formal, open and orderly features. They have played an important role in the development of scientific research. The meaning of researching a key journal's progress is far more than the history of science communication.The late nineteenth century was a turning period of the new replaced the old of physics. The new discoveries and experiments were of Europe origin, and American Institute of Physics was at the edge of the community of physicists. To promote scientific progress, a reformation of the higher education was carried out in United States and "pure science" was taken seriously gradually. A wave of transforming to the researching university was rising, and many universities had established their academic journals. In 1893, three teachers in Department of Physics of Cornell University founded Physical Review, the first Physics journal of American, with the support of the university. Physical Review was small initially, but it had also paid a modest for the development of physics, including promoting the establishment of the American Physical Society. During the development process, Physical Review had faced various difficulties, such as the backward level of domestic research, the theoretical research had been ignored, competition of physical journals, financial difficulties, war and economic crisis. About forty years later, Physical Review became the most comprehensive key publication of the community of physicists.Based on literatures about the academic development and science dissemination, and using document analysis and metrology, the development process of Physical Review from 1893 to 1952 has been studied. The conclusions were as follows.1) When Physical Review was founded, the theory was taken seriously gradually in the community of scientists and the reform of higher education began in United States. In the 30s of the 20th century, the journal established its key position in the community of physicists and United States became a science center of the world. Founding and developing Physical Review was a landmark event for scientific progress and reform of the higher education in United States.2) Each editor had made important contributions to the development of the journal. In the first 30 years, three founders of Cornell University had served as editor of the journal one by one, and they contributed their share for the survival and steady development of the journal. As the most important editor in chief, John Torrence Tate (1889-1950) had managed the journal for 25 years. He insisted the view that a research no published was not an achievement and promoted the dissemination of physics all his life. Under his leadership, Physical Review became the key physics journal quickly.3) Using scientific metrology, the writers in the initial period (1912-1893) and maturity (1946-1952) of Physical Review are analyzed and compared. The distribution and feature of primary authors and the variable percent of co-author were given. The interrelationship of scientific development with journal progress is discussed.4) The association of American which won the Nobel Prize in Physics with Physical Review in the 20th century is analyzed. The role of Physical Review in the development of basic physics and training younger physicists in United States is analyzed. Finally, some effective recommendations how the Chinese academic journal develop were given.