Specialized publication of scientific and technical journals during the 1970's showed marked growth in Europe and North America, was measurably stable in Africa and the Middle East, but was rising somewhat in the Asian-Pacific and Latin American-Caribbean regions. The number of journals in the basic sciences, the medical sciences, and technology-related industries continues to climb, worldwide, but the universal data-base on scientific periodicals remains fragmentary and needs completion. Primary-source scientific journals are relatively few in number, in most languages, and current economic considerations suggest that this number will not rise significantly. Journals of popularization, on the other hand, continue to grow in number and variety. Audiovisual and electronic information technologies are making inroads into the domain long dominated by typography, but replacement of printed journals by electronic journals can be expected to remain problematic for reasons related to technology, budget, and distribution. Current specialization in primary- and secondary-source journals may gradually give way to consolidation of journals now serving highly focused, comparatively small audiences.

In this paper, part of a symposium on the popularization of science and technology, the author develops a number of themes: why should a specific topic be popularized; the topics currently be researched by UNESCO; the problems of man and his environment and man as the center of development; and the role of the communicator as interpreter. There are indications that the elimination of war as a legitimate means of settling a conflict and that the abolition of mass poverty and of disparities of economic development either already pertain to or will very soon pertain to the international imperatives for the survival of … society.

The growing use of television to popularize science and technology has generated a trial examination of the motives, the dynamics, and the effectiveness of the process. Some results of the first international meeting held on the subject are presented by one of the participants.

The fiftieth anniversary of the death of Camille Flammarion, the great French astronomer, is the occasion for the authors of this article to review the beginnings of modern science writing. Flammarion's Popular Astronomy may be considered the first step in the popularization of science. The relation of science communication to other disciplines is discussed as well as the contemporary approach. One of the tasks of the popularizer is to present a correct image of science to the public. The authors conclude with a statement of UNESCO's involvement in the popularization of science.