Read all about it
C&I’s December 2006 readership
survey
provided the editorial team with much food for thought. Here we outline the principal
results of the survey and give an idea of the areas that have been identified for action
Over 300 readers of Chemistry & Industry responded to our readership survey published in issue 1 in January 2007. Thank you to all of you who took the time to fill in the form, either in the magazine or electronically, and return it to us. Your views are invaluable. Carrying out surveys like this is an essential part of ensuring that the editorial team of the magazine is producing what you, the members of SCI and other readers, want to read.
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| Ideally, how often would you like to receive C&I? |
The survey first addressed the frequency of publication of C&I, and 74% of the total 314 respondents said that the twice-monthly production was ideal for them. Of those, almost 60% said that the balance of content shouldn’t be changed, confirming that the mix the team provides suits the tastes of a large proportion of the readership. However, it is the other 40% whose views we will study carefully. It is important for us to understand how the readership feels improvements can be made to suit the ever-changing requirements of a magazine covering the world of science and business.
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| On average, how long do you spend reading each issue? |
While more than half of all respondents felt that the balance of content should remain unchanged, there were areas where clear indications were made towards adjustment, including news (where 40% of respondents said the content should be increased), features (46%) and highlights (38%).
Neil Eisberg, editor of C&I, said: ‘The overall results of this survey give us great confidence that we are providing a product that suits the requirements of the majority of our readership. It’s obvious that we can’t please all of our readers all of the time, and we will carefully consider the results of the survey – particularly those relating to suggested changes to the balance of the content – so we can make modifications to improve the magazine in the way SCI members and other C&I readers want.’
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| If you are a member of SCI, how important is C&I as part of your membership benefits? |
While 49% of respondents said that they were the only reader of the issue received, 36% said that their copy was read by another person, 8% of the circulation is seen by between three and five readers/copy and 6% of respondents said that more than five people looked at their copy of C&I. ‘While the percentages may appear small, they make a considerable difference in terms of readers per issue,’ said Eisberg. ‘The figures mean each copy has an average of two readers. That’s 12 000 readers!’
‘In concluding our survey we asked for our readers’ comments on the magazine. We received over 100.
' We haven’t got the room to reproduce all of them so we’ve chosen a few representative contributions to give a flavour of our readers’ thoughts,’ Eisberg said.
Here they are:
- ‘Overall I very much like the quality, general make- up and format of C&I so don’t see a compelling need for any major changes.’
- ‘I find the main problem with C&I to be the wide range of specialities SCI covers. Many of the features in C&I may be interesting but they are not useful to my speciality.’
- ‘Add global news, particularly from China and India – the largest new membership potential markets for SCI.’
- ‘I really like C&I. The information I get is different from other publications I read routinely. Maintain the difference.’
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