BY PETER J. DENNING
EIC YEARS FEBRUARY1983–SEPTEMBER1992
DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER
AGAIN
After a 10-year struggle within ACM to define a Journal for All Members (JAM), a
“new” Communications was launched in the cold of February 1983. CACM was to
leave behind its pure research past and transform into a professionally useful, interest-
ing, monthly magazine for all members. The CACM that evolved in the decade fol-
lowing 1983 is substantially the form you find today. I was the EIC who managed the
transition.
To understand the “new”
CACM, you need to
understand the “old”
CACM that preceded
it. Stu Lynn has reported that a
simple disagreement over the
covers led to the formation of
the ACM Publications Board in
the mid-1970s and to a major
restructuring of the ACM publications in the late 1970s. The
1970s were a major growth
phase for ACM and the computing field, with a continuous
stream of amazing new discoveries and inventions. ACM offered
its authors two research publishing venues: Journal of the ACM
(JACM) and CACM. CACM
was the preference for papers
about systems, architectures,
and applications; JACM for theoretical papers. But these two
journals could not accommo-
date the growth of the computing field.
THE PUBLICATIONS STRUGGLE
By the 1970s, the publications
budget, which covered JACM,
Computing Reviews, Computing
Surveys, and CACM, was about
half the ACM budget. The
member cost of CACM alone
was about half the annual dues.
ACM revenues were very tight
and everyone was sensitive
about returns on investment.
CACM and JACM could not
keep up with the explosive
growth of scientific discoveries
and technology inventions. By
the mid-1970s there were major
queues—and delays averaging
three years—in both publications. Authors and readers alike
complained bitterly to the ACM
leadership and Council. Presi-