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Vol. X No. II Fall/Winter 1999 Thirty and counting on FSU 1969-1999 During the last half of 20th century, Americans' love affair with magazines touched off a publishing explosion that defied belief. Flaunting dire predictions posed by the Internet Age, which celebrated its 30th birthday in 1999 (along with this magazine) the world's magazine industry is on fire, with a 300 percent growth in the number of titles over the last 25 years. One of the more unsung developments in this phenomenal growth is the emergence of the bona fide university research magazine, a venture of university-based PR in a class of its own.
University research magazines are only rarely confused with campus alumni magazines, which serve a different mission, say leaders with the University Research Magazine Association. Although varying widely in circulation and look (some start-ups are strictly "webzines"), such magazines are designed to communicate the value of campus research and graduate training to a general audience. Growth in research magazines is generally credited with an upsurge in competition among institutions trying to identify themselves as strong research centers, a consequence of an age when competition for research dollars from all sources has never been higher. But seen as a powerful ally is heightened public interest in science, as witnessed by a media tidal wave of science news that punctuated the century's final two decades. With 30 years to build on, Research in Review has a reason to be more than ever. Florida State University begins its first full century as a substantial contributor to new knowledge, a place where things unthinkable only a dozen years ago are now reality. - Frank Stephenson |
