Item talk:Q144070

Soviet books and publications on hydrology (continental) and hydrogeology: titles and some notes on obtaining Soviet monographs

A common method of publication for Soviet scientists, which partly supplants periodicals, is the publication of a collection of articles on a general area of research, frequently by members of a given institution. An extensive sampling of world geologic literature for 1961 (Hawkes, 1966) showed that 33 percent of Soviet titles appeared in periodicals whereas 55 percent of North American and 70 percent of Western European literature appeared in this form.

The Soviet predilection for symposia and collections of papers makes searching for information on a given subject more difficult for Westerners because the monographs in question are often not included in exchange agreements (except informal personal ones) with Western libraries and institutions, because they may be primed in small editions, and because such publications frequently escape the notice of Western abstract journals.

Unless one is fortunate enough to have many personal contacts in the Soviet Union, there seems to be little alternative to at least a rudimentary knowledge of Russian in order to stay abreast of work published as monographs and in collections.