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INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING 
Commission VI 
Symposium held in Mainz, FR Germany, 22 - 25 September 1982 
  
MERITS OF AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL COMPARED TO 
REGIONAL INTERNATIONAL PERIODICALS (RIP) 
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Hothmer 
Member, ISPRS Publications Policy Committee 
Fachhochschule Mainz, FR Germany 
ABSTRACT 
Some views are presented on the international journal 'Photogrammetria' and 
on the concept of a 'Regional International Periodical (RIP) on Photogrammetry 
and Remote Sensing for Africa / Asia / Europe / Latin America / North America’. 
  
The following observations are merely an addendum to the foregoing paper of 
THOMPSON on a publications policy for ISPRS. 
1. International journal ('Photogrammetria!) 
  
Some 50 years ago it was felt necessary to have a periodical being read in 
several countries. At that time, nothing suitable did exist. Therefore, 'Photo- 
grammetria' was founded. Meanwhile, conditions of these early days have 
changed considerably, and some attractive national periodicals with inter- 
national authors and with international distribution are available. Thus, one 
may consider there is no need anymore to publish this journal. 
Quite a few professionals classify an international journal as being boring, 
for it contains too little news. Yet, the average reader is more interested 
in news than in scientific articles. Consequently, an international periodical 
can attract only a small readership. 
2, Regional International Periodical (RIP) 
  
Availability of some attractive national journals is not an appropriate sub- 
stitute for 'Photogrammetria'. To this end, the concept of RIP has been 
developed. I will quote just some properties : : 
a) One of the objectives of RIP is to reduce the number of existing journals. 
b) RIPs should be implemented for geographic regions such as Africa, Asia, 
Latin America, North America, East Europe, West Europe. 
c) Some basic features inherent for running any RIP are: 
+ Participation of any country wishing to do so; 
+ Participating national societies subscribe for all their members and 
abandon their national periodical; 
+ Participating countries are themselves responsible for their RIP, and 
decide themselves on policies and procedures and on appointment of officers 
running the periodical; 
Bibliographic quotation : 
Hothmer, J. : Merits of an international journal compared to regional international 
periodicals (RIP) for photogrammetry and remote sensing. In: Int. Arcnive 
of Photogrammetry, 24 -VI, pp 145 - 146, Mainz 1932