November 15, 1973

Executive Committee of the American Institute of Physics

Minutes of Meeting

Members Present: H. Richard Crane – Chairman, J. A. Burton, W. W. Havens, Jr., Gerald Holton, G. A. Jeffrey, E. Leonard Jossem, H. William Koch, A. I. Mahan

AIP Staff Present: H. William Koch, Director; Wallace Waterfall, Secretary; G. F. Gilbert, Treasurer; Lewis Slack, Assoc. Director for General Activities; R. H. Marks, Assoc. Dir. for Publishing & Information; Dorothy M. Lasky, Assistant to the Director; Mary M. Johnson, Assistant to the Secretary

Chairman Crane called the meeting to order at 12:40 p.m.

1. Minutes

Upon motion made and passed without dissent, the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting of August 29, 1973, were approved as distributed.

2. Ratification of Mail Ballot on June 29, 1973, Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

The Secretary reported that ballots approving the minutes as distributed had been received from all Executive Committee members except Jossem. Jossem said his failure to respond was due to an oversight and that he did approve the minutes. It was then moved, seconded and carried without dissent that the mail ballot approving the June 29, 1973, Executive Committee meeting minutes be ratified.

3. Financial Matters

1. Statement for Six Months Ended 6/30/73 and Projection to 12/31/73

   Gilbert said that a copy of the statement for the first six months had been sent to all Board members with his covering letter of October 31. (Copies are attached for others who should have them.) Copies of the projection to the end of the year had been sent to all Executive Committee members before the meeting and are attached to these minutes as Exhibit A.

   Gilbert pointed out that we almost always show a net income for the first six months but this time we showed a net expense of $69,614. The estimate to the end of the year showed a net expense of $126,500. Gilbert emphasized that he felt this was a very conservative projection and he expected we would do better in a number of items. Gilbert explained the various items in some detail and answered a number of questions.

   Gilbert pointed out that, at the end of his projection for the 1973 calendar year, he had included a number of recommendations in which our auditors concurred. These recommendations make use of the Publishing Reserve as it was intended to be used and also suggest other ways in which the projected net expense for 1973 can be reduced legitimately. Gilbert said that our auditors agreed with all recommendations he was making.

   Beginning in January 1966 the Governing Board authorized the Treasurer to credit income from the Investment Advisory Account regularly to the Reserve for Building Replacement. We had a very low building reserve at the time and this was gradually built up until the reserve, on June 30, 1973, amounted to $739,200. In 1973 the income from the Investment Advisory Account should be approximately $50,000 and the Treasurer recommended that, henceforth, the income from the Investment Advisory Account should be taken directly into Institute income.

   Gilbert also pointed out that we have a current Publishing Reserve of $150,000 and he believes this should be broken up into two parts: $100,000 as a Publishing Reserve for Archival Journals and $50,000 as a Publishing Reserve for Translation Journals. We expect to have a loss of approximately $6,900 on APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS in 1973 and a net expense of about $32,800 on several of our translation journals. We do not know now exactly what the net expense will be but, at the March meeting of the Executive Committee, we intend to propose that enough be transferred from the Reserve for Translation Journals to cover the losses on those journals. As the last sheet of the Treasurer’s recommendations shows, the suggested financial adjustments should result in an adjusted net expense for 1973 of $36,800 if the actual net expense turns out to be $126,500.

   Gilbert said that the action he was requesting of the Executive Committee at the present time was to credit the net income or expense from our Investment Advisory Account regularly to Institute operations rather than to the Reserve for Building Replacement. After some questions and further discussion, the following motion was made, seconded, and passed without dissent:

   MOVED that the Treasurer be authorized regularly to credit the net income or expense from the Investment Advisory Account to Institute operations.

   During the discussion before the above motion was passed, Havens said he had understood that no money from the Publishing Reserve would be used so long as there was net income from the archive journals as a whole. Gilbert admitted he understood that was the original intention but both he and the auditors now believe it is legitimate to withdraw money from the reserve to cover any single journal or journals which show a loss even though other journals may show a net income. The following motion was then made, seconded, and passed without dissent:

   MOVED that the Treasurer be authorized to change the current Publishing Reserve to two reserves, one a Publishing Reserve for Archival Journals and the other a Publishing Reserve for Translation Journals.

2. Policy on Payment of Society Quarterly Statements

   Gilbert read a prepared statement on this subject (copy attached as Exhibit B) which became the basis for a brief discussion. Jossem moved that the proposed policy be adopted and the motion was seconded and carried without dissent.

   Crane raised a question about whether some penalty should be imposed for failure of a society to pay on time. Havens said he realized the policy seemed to be a very one-sided one but he would be strenuously opposed to a penalty of any kind.

   Gilbert then referred to his memorandum dated October 11, 1973, which had been distributed before the meeting and is attached as Exhibit C. This memorandum explains the financial condition of AAPT and indicates that as of June 30, 1973, AAPT owed AIP $68,716. From the information available it appears that AAPT will not be able to meet its obligation to AIP at this time. The Treasurer recommended that he be instructed to inform the Executive Committee at its December meeting about the status of the AAPT account and, at that time, a decision can be made about the next move. Jossem assured the Committee that everything possible is being done to resolve the situation.

3. Proposals from Subscription Fulfillment Consultants

   Koch said he did not wish to anticipate the recommendation which the Advisory Committee on Dues Billing and Subscription Fulfillment expected to make to the Governing Board on the following day but he understood that the Committee was recommending that AIP employ subscription fulfillment consultants to look over our operations and make recommendations for improvement if possible. Anticipating this recommendation, Koch said that the staff had been interviewing several possible consultants and had received proposals from two. Clients of the proposed consultants had also been interviewed. The staff had reached the conclusion that an organization known as McCaffery, Seligman & von Simson, Inc., would be the best choice. Their proposed charge for the assignment was $6,500 inclusive of all expenses. There was some discussion of the proposal and the following motion was finally made, seconded, and passed without dissent:

   MOVED that, if the Governing Board approves that a subscription fulfillment consultant be employed, the Executive Committee recommends that the consultant be McCaffery, Seligman & von Simson, Inc.

4. To Continue or Discontinue AIP Support of Register of Physicists and Associated Scientists

   Slack called attention to a paper on this general subject which had been distributed to all Executive Committee members prior to the meeting. Slack said that we needed to make a decision about the value of the Register, to what extent it deserves support, and to what source we should look for funds to support it. The memorandum to which Slack referred suggested that APS was the natural party to which AIP should turn for full support of the Register.

   Burton pointed out that the Institute is budgeting approximately $50,000 for support of the register in 1974. Burton indicated that APS is committing approximately $100,000 to manpower efforts. In the discussion which followed questions were raised about various uses to which the data could be put and also whether the questionnaires contained more information than was really useful. Havens suggested that a lot more thought should be given to this subject before any decision is reached.

5. IRS Audit for 1971

   Gilbert reported at the June 29, 1973, meeting of the Executive Committee that IRS was auditing AIP for calendar year 1971. In letters from IRS dated September 17 and September 28 we were told that our report on activities for 1971 was accepted as filed and that our Form 990-T for 1971 (unrelated business income report) was accepted as filed.

6. Acceptance of Indirect Cost Rate Proposal for 1972

   Gilbert recalled that at the June 29 meeting he reported having submitted a new indirect cost rate proposal to NSF for calendar year 1972. We requested a final rate of 19.87% and were just recently notified that our request was granted and that the rate will apply to all new grants until a new rate is established.

7. Investment Advisory Account

   Gilbert said he believed that the Executive Committee should have an annual year-end performance report on the Investment Advisory Account and he was planning accordingly. There were no objections.

8. Restrictions on Price Increases for 1974

   Gilbert said that since our August 29 meeting, we have received new data from IRS concerning restrictions on price increases. AIP has been classified as a Category III firm and is not required to obtain advance approval of price increases or to file quarterly stabilization reports. However, we must still maintain records which demonstrate compliance with the stabilization recommendations.

9. Reprint Prices for 1974

   Marks indicated he had been studying the prices we charge for reprints and covers, and believed they should be raised. He called attention to a table of recommended new prices which had been distributed before the meeting (copy attached as Exhibit D). Marks remarked that the price increases amounted to approximately 10%. The following motion was made, seconded, and passed without dissent:

   MOVED that the proposed new prices for reprints and covers be approved for 1974.

4. Status of NSF Grant Requests

1. Interchange of Data Bases – Engineering Index

   Marks said he felt we had made considerable progress in integrating the various parts of our Information services. We now feel that we can produce a "head" in three days. We intend to produce and process all of the AIP heads including translations. AEC now seems satisfied enough with our work for Nuclear Science Abstracts that they wish to extend our contract for another six months.

   We are still working with Engineering Index on the possibility of exchanging information from our data bases. We believe this has interesting possibilities for both organizations. A proposal for $185,600 has been submitted to NSF to fund the development work needed to make the EI and AIP data bases compatible for exchange.

2. The Development of Data-Descriptive Records for the Physical Sciences

   Marks recalled that he had told the Committee before about the interest of NSF and NBS in a data-tagging project. At the suggestion of NSF, we have submitted a proposal to them for $125,000. If we receive the data-tagging grant and the interchange of data bases grant, Metzner and Lerner would be responsible for the work. We would use existing staff but will also farm out a considerable part of the work.

5. Copyright Negotiations

1. Copyright Report and Efforts at Standardization

   Koch referred to a report dated November 15 and entitled "AIP Report on Copyright to Executive Committee" (copy attached as Exhibit E) which had been distributed to the Committee just before the meeting. The second page of the report contains specific statements recommended for inclusion in each of the AIP-published journals. No action was taken on these recommendations at this point.

2. Soviet Proposals

   Koch recalled that this subject had been discussed with the Executive Committee several times. The Societies have agreed that we should negotiate with the Soviets for them and a letter, approved by the Executive Committee, was sent to the Soviets offering to give the Soviets certain rights with respect to our journals in exchange for similar rights with respect to their journals. They have shown an interest in our proposals and negotiations are in progress.

3. IEE Position

   Koch reviewed the various efforts which have been made to work out some accommodation with IEE without success and also referred to his letter of November 6, 1973, to the Executive Committee on the subject. Burton said he felt that some of the statements contained in Koch’s proposed letter to Gainsborough of IEE were quite drastic and should have further consideration by some of the Societies. Crane pointed out that the correspondence might lead to an expensive lawsuit which would be quite unfortunate. Havens said he wished to discuss the proposed Gainsborough letter with members of APS and did not feel that he was in a position at the present time to authorize sending the letter as it was.

   After further discussion Havens made the following motion which was seconded and passed without dissent:

   MOVED that a revised letter to Gainsborough be composed by the Director, the Associate Director for Publishing, and the Chairman of the Board and that the letter be sent to members of the Executive Committee for approval by mail ballot if they consider it advisable. If there are objections to the letter it is to be held until the next meeting of the Executive Committee.

6. Report of Administrative Review Committee

All staff members were excused from the meeting and the Executive Committee and the Administrative Review Committee went into executive session. When the staff was recalled, the Secretary was informed that the Administrative Review Committee had reported in some detail and that the report had been discussed by members of the Executive Committee. No action was reported other than action on certain administrative salaries which is recorded in the official copy of these minutes.

The salary changes referred to above, effective January 1, 1974, are as follows:

7. Continuation of Copyright Discussion

The discussion of our copyright position had been interrupted by the report from the Administrative Review Committee and was continued after that committee completed its report.

The question for the Executive Committee was whether it was willing to approve for inclusion in the journals the statement about "Information for Contributors" and the statement "Copyright and Permission to Copy" which were contained in the November 15 memorandum entitled "AIP Report on Copyright to Executive Committee" which had been distributed by Koch. Koch said he would like permission to include these two statements verbatim in Institute-owned journals and would like to submit them to Member Societies for approval to include in their journals. Then followed much discussion of the proposals and the principal objection seemed to be that the statements were too long. A motion was made to approve the statements as they were submitted but this motion was defeated. Havens then made the following motion which was seconded and passed without dissent:

MOVED that the first sentence of the statement on "Copyright and Permission to Copy" be included in all AIP-owned journals.

8. Status of AIP Computer Proposals

Marks said the Executive Committee had previously been advised of our concern about the continuing adequacy of our computer equipment to handle the increasing load. He said that proposals on new equipment were being received and studied.

9. Appointments

Waterfall called attention to the fact that, although most appointments are made at the spring meeting of the Governing Board, some of the terms end at the end of December and replacements should be named. He said he presumed that the Chairman and Director continue to have authority to make necessary appointments at odd times and that they would do so in these cases. There were no objections.

10. Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Executive Committee is scheduled to be held on Monday, December 17, 1973, starting at 9:00 a.m. at the offices of the Institute.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:20 p.m.