News Detail

A Storehouse of Knowledge

11/1/2000

ACI is best known through the publications we produce. In this President’s Memo, I would like to discuss the range of technical, educational, and archival publications that make up the ACI knowledge base.

Our Technical Committees—all 116 of them—have missions that include the charge to "develop and report information…" and many also have further responsibility to "develop and maintain standards…." The reports and standards issued by ACI’s Technical Committees provide the background and the procedures, techniques, and specifications that guide most concrete construction in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. Perhaps our best-known document is "Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete," developed, maintained, and updated by ACI Committee 318.

Technical committees are organized into five categories and numbered accordingly:

• Research and Administration (100);
• Materials and Properties of Concrete (200);
• Design and Construction Practices (300);
• Structural Analysis (400); and
• Special Products and Processes (500).

ACI Technical Committee documents constitute the largest body of information on concrete in the world. The Manual of Concrete Practice (MCP) is a compendium of current ACI standards and committee reports that is available in hard copy or on CD-ROM. The first MCP was published in 1967 and contained 17 standards and 23 committee reports. The MCP was an outgrowth of the Book of Standards that was first published in 1945 and contained six standards. It has grown steadily since then and is an invaluable reference for anyone interested in concrete technology. The fact that volunteer committee members have developed all this information is a remarkable achievement. In my October Memo, the importance of camaraderie, consensus, and credibility in adding value to our documents and to committee membership was discussed and is in large measure, the reason we have such a vast store of knowledge in ACI.

ACI Educational Committees are charged with the development of instructional programs for materials of concrete construction, design, construction practices, computer applications, teaching methods and curricula in concrete education, and training people involved in the concrete industry. ACI seminars are well known in the concrete community and are important outlets for information that will improve the technical background of the participants and the quality of concrete construction. Technical information on concrete construction is expanding rapidly. Our seminars will be increasingly important in transferring new knowledge to practice.

The ACI Structural Journal and the ACI Materials Journal are issued bimonthly. The first ACI Journal was published in 1929 as one volume; it was split into the two present Journals in 1987. The Journals are the primary archives of concrete technology for individually authored papers resulting from research, design or construction practice, and technical sessions at conventions. On occasion, committee reports, standards, and state-of-the-art reviews are included in the Journals to make them available to a broad audience. Individually authored papers appearing in the Journals are reviewed through a process that has been developed by the Publications Committee and the Technical Activities Committee. An average of about 300 manuscripts are submitted each year for possible publication in the Journals. The acceptance rate for papers submitted is about 45%.

Because the Journals are widely referenced and studied, many authors prefer to publish the results of their studies through ACI. Several years ago, the demand for space in the Journals created a backlog of papers ready for publication. The Publications Committee (chaired by Sharon Wood), working with the ACI staff (guided by Shuaib Ahmad, Becky Hartford, and John Glumb), has eliminated that backlog so that the average time for a paper to appear in a Journal is less than 12 months after it is initially submitted for publication. This time-to-publication includes the peer review process, the time needed for authors to incorporate reviewer comments and suggestions, and the time allocated for editorial production.

The Institute also issues Special Publications (SPs), which include papers from convention sessions, special committee materials, manuals, and handbooks. ACI has published nearly 200 SP volumes on a variety of topics dealing with concrete technology.

To address the need for practice-oriented publications that can be used in the field and that are aimed at specific users, ACI has several different series of manuals, booklets, and guides. These include the Concrete Craftsman Series (construction practices and materials), Concrete Tools (collections of ACI documents on specific topics on CD-ROM), Practitioner’s Guides (collections of practical information for contractors, technicians, and engineers), and Toolbox Meeting Flyers (construction-related topics in short format suitable for use on the job site).

Concrete International is our monthly magazine and provides information on all aspects of concrete technology, Institute policy changes and actions, articles about members and chapter activities, and announcements of new publications and reports. Articles appearing in the magazine are selected for their technical content, their practicality, and their timeliness to the concrete community.

As you can see, the variety and volume of ACI publications are impressive. I am sure you have had an opportunity to use at least one of our publications. We are working to make more and more of our documents available electronically so that the information you need will be available in a timely fashion at the lowest possible cost.

I urge you to join one of our committees or author an article or paper. We need your help to increase the storehouse of knowledge that is the hallmark of ACI.

James O. Jirsa
President
American Concrete Institute

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