Scientific American: The Legacy Continues for 150 Years

Q: What type of people work for Scientific American?

There is about a group of 30 people who put the magazine together, about half of whom are writers/editors. Some of the editors have scientific academic backgrounds, although this is not a requirement. Mr. Rennie has a background in biology. He has worked in biological research, but he decided that he enjoyed explaining science more than doing research. Since then, he has worked in scientific publications, and he became editor-in- chief of Scientific American last year.

Q: How are articles chosen for the magazine? Topics are chosen so that important scientific research and technical implementation of such research are discussed. The importance of a certain topic is gauged by what people in the field think is important. The magazine tries to strike a balance between all fields. However, there tends to be a leaning towards biological research.

Q: Do articles have to be extensively edited?

Some articles naturally sell themselves. They manage to convey depth of information yet with a level of storytelling ingrained into them. The most successful articles have a personal storytelling quality to them.

However, some article need extensive revision or rewriting. Most scientists are not polished writers. Sometimes a manuscript is sent back to the writer for revision, or it is just edited by the staff editors. Also, certain ideas are difficult to express without delving into complicated mathematics. This is generally a problem with physics and computer science articles.

Q: Is there any feedback from scientists?

There will be some steamed scientists who would read an article and question why their work is not mentioned in the article. Writers from a certain research facility (i.e. MIT Media Lab) might not mention work done in other research facilities.

Editors must also be careful because details are scrutinized by scientists. Everyone looks at the details of the magazine, so even little mistakes must be corrected.

Q: Are articles solicited or voluntarily submitted? Generally, about 50% are solicited and the other 50% are voluntarily submitted?

Q: Who are the main readers of Scientific American?

Surprisingly, only about 4% of readers are research scientists. Students with subscriptions make up about another 10%. The typical reader of Scientific American is a business professional with a technical background who wants to keep up with the latest scientific knowledge.

Circulation is about 600,000 in the US, and 1.2 million worldwide.