JAIC scope

The editor of the JAIC, Julio M. Del Hoyo-Melendez, has written a
letter in the current issue acknowledging the fact that some members
of the AIC are questioning the journal's scope.  This is a
commendable departure from the editorial policy of the JAIC over the
past near 30 years since the departure of Marjorie B. Cohn as
editor.  A discussion of the scope of the Journal is long overdue
and it is one that should be done in a series of meetings, not just
at the annual conference, but in the regional conservation groups.
The membership should decide what they want to appear in the journal
and what do they feel the role of the JAIC is in terms of their
needs as conservators with everyday pressures and challenges.

I have to disagree with Mr. Del Hoyo-Melendez on his claim (also
made by recent former editors) that there has been a "dearth of
submissions pertaining to treatment."  I think that there have been
many submissions reporting on treatments, and I have been told by
editors in recent years that the JAIC is only interested in novel
treatments.  Myself I have submitted more than a dozen manuscripts
that were rejected by the JAIC but published in other conservation
journals.  A partial list appears below, but I would encourage
conservators who have submitted manuscripts that were rejected to
send me the titles or copies so I can compile a comprehensive list
and discover what has been the policy.

I published a comparison of treatment articles vs analysis and art
history articles and broke this down to articles written by
conservators in private practice vs those affiliated with
institutions in the AIC News in May of 1998, pages 3-5.  If this is
not available from the AIC website people can email me and I will
send a copy.

    Conservation treatments of paintings on ceramic and glass
    Studies in Conservation

    Restoration of a painted piano lid
    Restauro (in German)

    Conservation of a Spanish Colonial Sculpture
    Journal of the Institute of Conservation

    Restoration of a human skeleton as scientific specimen

    Leaflet Series, Society for the Preservation of Natural History
    Specimens

    The Discovery of Hidden Drawings by Backing Removal:
    Three Examples Including a Charles Keene Drawing.

    (With R. Ann Sheldon)
    Restaurator

Of course, I am happy to publish in an international forum, but the
point here is the selection process of the JAIC editors.  On the
other hand, if we are going to publish scientific papers on analysis
they should be specific to needs in conservation as these three
papers I published:

    1995    A note on the use of Groomstick! on paper
            Archives et Bibliotheques de Belgique, v.66,#1-4,
            1995:83-94

    1994    Storage conditions and physical treatments relating to
            the dating of the Dead
            Radiocarbon,  v.37, #1, 1994:21-3

    1994    The Solander Box: its varieties and role as an archival
            unit of storage for prints and drawings in a museum,
            archive or gallery
            Museum Management and Curatorship,
            v. 12, #4, 1993:387-400, reprinted in Archives et
            Bibliotheques de Belgique, v.64, #1-4, 1993:259-384

I hope my comments here can further the development of publication
in conservation and lead to more involvement in publication by
members of the AIC, using their journal for the purpose of
communicating their needs to their colleagues in the field as a
means of promoting their success in treatments in their own work.

Niccolo Caldararo, Ph.D.
Dept. of Anthropology
San Francisco State University


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 30:8
                   Distributed: Sunday, July 10, 2016
                        Message Id: cdl-30-8-008
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