Book reviews and reports – a new feature in Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials

Citation

Kalliopi K. Aligizaki, D. (2003), "Book reviews and reports – a new feature in Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 50 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/acmm.2003.12850aaa.001

Book reviews and reports – a new feature in Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials

Book reviews and reports – a new feature in Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials

Starting in 2003, from Issue 2 of this volume Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials (ACMM) will have a regular Book Review section. The reviews are intended to cover a wide area of interests that we think will be of value to the readership of the journal. They will cover broad areas including, but not limited to, characterization and testing techniques, new materials for corrosion protection, basic electrochemistry and principles of corrosion.

With the number of books published each year steadily increasing, it is becoming more time-consuming for a scientist to stay up-to-date with new publications. It is roughly estimated that the world stock of books is approximately 65 million; that there are currently over 3 million published books in English circulating in the market, and that every year about 160,000 new books are published world-wide. Even though these numbers cover all areas and do not refer strictly to scientific and technical books, one can get an idea about the volume of books becoming available.

In recent years, more journals in the area of materials science and engineering tend to provide either regular or occasional book reviews. There are now even Web sites that offer book reviews for readers with specific areas of interests. If a scientist wants to get introductory information in a field new to him/her, or recent developments in an established field, one has the option of finding a technical review paper in a journal, or reading a book. Since one’s personal library cannot possibly acquire extensive literature, one has to critically select what would be useful. A critical book review by a scientist in the same field can provide information about a book’s strengths, weaknesses and effectiveness, and can affect one’s decision to buy the specific book.

Book reviews have come to be more valued in recent times. For a newly-published book, there is usually a brief description about the book and maybe a table of contents provided by the publisher. However, publishers and sellers tend to add expert book reviews as part of their marketing strategy: a good book review can increase the book’s selling potential.

After occasional book reviews in the past, the team of ACMM has decided to make book reviews a regular feature in the journal. Our goal is to provide expert, in-depth reviews of books that we think will be of interest and value to our readers. Even though we plan to focus on recently published books, so that we can keep our readership up-to-date with new information, we plan occasionally to review books that have been in the market for a few years, if we judge that they provide useful information. We hope that our readers will find this feature useful and we certainly welcome suggestions on review of books in specific areas, or even on specific books.

Dr Kalliopi K. AligizakiBook Review EditorKalliopi@ou.edu