MRS Bulletin celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2015. Starting as a four-page mimeographed newsletter in 1975 for a fledgling materials society as a way to keep members informed of activities, it evolved into a monthly print magazine and journal hybrid sent to all members of the Materials Research Society. Along the way, it incorporated the idea of a “theme topic” reviewing a particular subfield of materials science, along with other articles, news, and features of interest to the materials community.
A colleague once told me that if one wants to get a quick yet in-depth look at a specific materials area, one could do no better than to read a MRS Bulletin theme issue on that topic. This is true of a fresh graduate student starting in her discipline or an experienced researcher looking to foray into or get a glimpse of a new field. I hear stories of longtime members with stacks of MRS Bulletin issues on their bookshelf. This is not just for appearance—MRS Bulletin articles continue to be overall well cited (current impact factor is 6.06), which means people are reading them and referencing them. Over the years, MRS Bulletin has acquired a good reputation as well as a specific look and design. It remains unique in many ways.
MRS Bulletin has had an online presence since the late 1990s. As is the case with most scientific journals and publications today, archives of MRS Bulletin were scanned, and all issues were made available online a few years ago. Graduate students today access journals online without ever touching the paper versions. Our reading habits beyond scientific publications have also moved to electronic screens of one form or another, though a good fraction of readers continue to prefer paper versions for specific types of publications. So it has been clear to us for many years that MRS Bulletin needed to move in this direction.
After a couple of iterations of the online MRS Bulletin, a new digital MRS Bulletin (MRSBulletin.org) was unveiled in late 2016 in conjunction with our publishing partner Cambridge University Press. The digital MRS Bulletin is now the issue of record each month. The print MRS Bulletin will continue to be available for those MRS members who still prefer to receive it (for a nominal additional fee).
The new digital MRS Bulletin provides opportunities that expand well beyond the limits of a monthly print journal. The website incorporates materials news that changes daily along with the traditional MRS Bulletin content. The site also includes rich multimedia content and other features that are expected to continue to grow in the coming months.
What is not changing is our commitment to the highest quality of content and its presentation. Whatever the format, the goal is to make the information valuable and accessible to the materials community and beyond.
We have been fortunate in having many outstanding and dedicated volunteers from the materials community who have and continue to work with MRS Bulletin staff to generate content. MRS Bulletin would not be where it is today without these efforts.
But we want to ensure we hear your voice. Please let us know what you think of the changes, how MRS Bulletin can do better, how it can help you in your career and profession. Contact us if you want to be more involved or to contribute, whether through a handwritten letter on paper by “snail mail,” an email, or a tweet to @MRSBulletin—the format is not important. As is true for the print versus digital MRS Bulletin …
