Mission possible: clarify the complicated

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, August 1, 1995 by Alison S. Weintraub

Scientific jargon is no picnic for anyone, including scientists. High-tech lingo can discourage even naturally curious researchers from keeping abreast of discoveries and advances in other scientific fields. Science Spectra, Gordon and Breach Publishing Group's quarterly, aims to help scientists overcome those barriers.

Positioned between Discover and Scentific American, the Newark, New Jersey-based Science Spectra targets primarily the international scientific community. With an initial pressrun of 10,000, the preview issue hit newsstands in April and has also attracted some interested non-scientists as readers.

The idea for Science Spectra has long been germinating within Lausanne, Switzerland-based Gordon and Breach. "In our travels around the scientific community, we saw the need to describe science in other disciplines to scientists," explains Ian Mellanby, Ph.D., editor and publishes mainly scientific journals, and is just beginning crack the consumer magazine market, having launched World Art in the United States last fall. Gordon and Breach plans to leave consumer-type advertising to 21C, a publication with plans for a September launch. Science Spectra will concentrate instead on attracting more technical advertisers, Mellanby says.

"We see Science Spectra as linking the more specialized magazines to the more specialized journals," he explains, adding that the launch's target audience and its science-based content make it a good fit with other Gordon and Breach holdings, including International Journal of Solar Energy and Science & Global Security. Gordon & Breach is currently developing a hypertext-based online service, with Science Spectra serving as a gateway to its more technical journals.

Paul Hoffman, editor in chief of Disney Publishing's more general-interest Discover, is impressed with the quality of Science Spectra, but unconcerned about competition. "[Science Spectra] is much closer to book publishing than magazine publishing," he says. "It's really more like a Time-Life science book series."

Science Spectra's cover is $9.50, and a two-year subscription rate is $38. The ad rate for a black-and-white page is $2,200. U.S. Address: Two Gateway Center, 11th Floor, Newark, NJ 07102. Telephone: 201-643-7500.