294 ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR WAR 



publishers for the publication of monographs. The theory was that by a 

 grant of the commercial rights to a publisher the Government would at the 

 same time obtain a reduced price for the copies needed for Government 

 purposes and insure the widespread publication required by the public 

 interest. The recommended publishing arrangements for technical mono- 

 graphs called for the payment of royalties payable to the United States, 

 with the royalty rate on a sliding scale to preclude excessive profits on un- 

 expectedly large sales. Copyrights or exclusive publication privileges were 

 not to be granted for a period in excess of that reasonably necessary to 

 insure the initial edition (which might include more than one printing). 

 No rights other than copyright were to be granted to publishers unless 

 unusual conditions made the granting of such rights urgently necessary. 



Under this plan the Director approved the publication of thirty-six mono- 

 graphs covering a wide variety of fields, including such subjects as exterior 

 ballistics of rockets, ultra-high-frequency techniques as applied to radar, 

 very high-frequency techniques developed at the Radio Research Labora- 

 tory, sampling inspection, studies in applied statistics, and antimalarials. 



It was always intended that the monograph series should be sharply 

 limited. Time could permit only those which the writers were enthusiastic 

 to prepare and for which manuscripts could be delivered to publishers 

 before the expiration dates of the primary contracts. No contractor was 

 expected to produce monograph copy at the expense of the STR series 

 which was his first obligation, and no contract was extended for the sole 

 purpose of providing a monograph. Consequently, February i, 1946, was set 

 as a deadline after which no more monograph proposals could be received. 

 This undoubtedly prevented the publication of a few monographs, but in 

 terms of the general demobilization plan, this was inevitable. 



The OSRD plans call for the purchase on behalf of the Government of 

 some 400 copies of each monograph volume — 250 for the recipients of the 

 sets of STR and 125 for deposit with the Library of Congress for its inter- 

 national exchanges. The Library of Congress was expressly requested not 

 to use these in the national depository system, since any member library 

 could purchase the books on the open market. 



4. History. Neither the long nor the short history of OSRD was the 

 responsibility of the Committee on Publications save in the single particular 

 of arranging for its publication. Here the technique of the monograph series 

 was used except that the OSRD contracted directly with the selected pub- 

 lisher. The so-called "short history" of OSRD was written by President 

 James Phinney Baxter, 3rd, of Williams College, OSRD historian, and was 

 published on November i, 1946, under the title Scientists Against Time. 

 The "long history" consists of the present volume on administration, two 

 volumes describing CMR activities, one volume on OFS, and four volumes 

 reporting the work of NDRC divisions and panels. The CMR volumes 



