Research Reports - Publishing at What Cost and Quality?

By using a better reproduction technology than duplication and by having a judicious mix of alternatives, an educational/research institution can produce better research reports than it does now and that too at a lesser cost. Better marketing and pricing of the reports will not only recoup the initial investment but will also help in atleast not losing money. Hopefully, better presentation and larger dissemination will provide an incentive to the researchers to improve the substantive quality of their output. Another contribution is the easing of the pressure on the demand for paper, which is of some national significance. The four criteria – speed, accuracy, presentability, and cost – on which the mix reproductive technology is justified for educational institutions are relevant to other organizations like government and business offices. The use of mixed technology by other organizations also will have substantial impact on reducing the reproduction costs. However, the four criteria could be better satisfied if supervisors of reproduction units, communication specialists, and layout artists constantly apply these criteria to each job on hand. The strategy of mixed technology will get a boost if the Indian manufacturers can fill up two gaps that exist in using such a mixture. The first gap can be filled by increased production, sales, and servicing of electric typewriters. If at a later stage, varitypewriters and justowriters coule be introduced, it would be a boon for small institutions which cannot incur heavy initial capital costs of having hot metal composition, and large organizations like the government and business offices, which cannot go in for outside composition for reasons of confidentiality and speed. The other gap can be filled in by producing automatic plats transference equipment for linking the chain in the process of transferring images from paper to metal masters for use on baby offset machines.