From its inception, the Board of Scientific Affairs has devoted special attention to the role of scientific communication in the development of psychological science. In a 1959 issue of the American Psychologist (14, pp. 267-271), Dorwin Cartwright and Arthur Melton, the first two Chairmen of the Board, stated that "BSA considers the problem of efficient and effective communication of scientific information to be perhaps the most critical problem faced by scientific psychology today [p. 270|." The Board called for careful studies of the processes of scientific communication, urging that researchers explore the role of formal and informal channels, collect data on the natural history of scientific information transmission, review the problems of information retrieval, and examine the applicability of available technologists to the communication problems in psychology.In 1960, the National Science Foundation granted funds to the APA for a program of research on scientific information exchange in psychology. William D. Garvey and Belver C. Griffith were asked by the Central Office to develop and undertake this program of research. The work of these researchers over the last decade has given psychologists a rare resource-a series of empirical studies of the nature of scientific communication within their own field.APA is now engaged in a large-scale revision of its system of communications. Many innovations are being explored, and many traditional institutions are being reexamined. It is not surprising that scientists' emotions run high in such circumstances, and it is scarcely news that the communication program has been ardently praised and vigorously criticized. It is regrettable, however, that in the midst of such great interest, there is sometimes so little information. The Board of Scientific Affairs feels that one of its responsibilities to the Association is to call members' attention to the pioneering research done under APA's auspices which ought to be central to the current discussion of our communication system.On the assumption that sound decisions are most likely to be made with the benefit of accurate information, the Board asked Drs. Garvey and Griffith to prepare a summary of some of their major findings for presentation at the 1970 meeting of the Association. While this assignment required heroic selection and condensation, a coherent and comprehensible picture of scientific communication emerged. The paper is of such interest and importance to psychologists that the Board urged the authors to submit it for publication. We hope this article will give the benefit of the authors' hard-won knowledge and deep insight to a wide audience. And we hope that the members of APA will give serious thought to these findings as they make decisions affecting the communication structures available for scientific information exchange.

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