Analysis (분석 / Punsok)
Analysis
분석 / Punsok
Translation and backgrounder by Stephen Mercado
A quarterly journal of science and technology related to analytical chemistry, published by the Science and Encyclopedia Publishing House.
Journal Title: The journal title has various renderings. Analysis is the name in English. Its name in a simplified version of the standard McCune-Reischauer (M-R) transliteration system and the actual title in Korean are listed above. Its full M-R transliteration, as used in catalogs of the Library of Congress and other major libraries, is Punsŏk. In the English version of the journal’s table of contents, the transliteration, rendered in all caps, is PUNSOK. Below appears between parentheses the English version: (Analysis).
Author Information: Editorials and anecdotes of the Revolution (혁명 일화) are unsigned. The research papers show author names but lack other information common to science papers, such as academic or professional affiliation, academic titles, areas of research or author biography. Given the journal’s title, it would be reasonable to suppose that some of the authors hail from the State Academy of Sciences (SAS) Chemistry Institute or a relevant academic department.
Subject Matter: The articles have to do with topics in analytical chemistry—research on chemical systems—in such fields as forensics, pharmaceuticals and toxicology, using techniques such as chromatography and spectroscopy.
References: In general, articles in the sections “Research Papers” and “Research Data” have two or three citations. Articles in the section “Trends Data” can run to a dozen endnotes. Authors, in addition to domestic publications, cite a wide variety of Western and Chinese technical literature in such relevant publications as Analytica Chimica Acta, the Journal of Chromatography A, and Talanta.
Sections: Each issue comprises a front cover; an unnumbered page with a framed quotation of one of the three generations of the Kim family; a table of contents (TOC) in Korean; the articles; a TOC in English; the publishing information; and the back cover. Regime messages/propaganda appear throughout the journal.
In recent years, the front cover shows a lead quotation over the journal title, under which is the name of the publisher, the issue number and year of issue, and the corporate logo. The TOC in Korean starts with two or three items, each either an editorial or an anecdote of the Revolution. There follows some number of articles under the sections “Research Papers” (연구론문) and “Research Data” (연구자료). Some issues may include other sections; for example, after “Research Data,” the final two sections of issue 3, 2022, are “Trends Data” (추세자료) and “Legal Commentary” (법무해설). Following the articles is an abbreviated TOC in English; there are no translations for the material following the section “Research Papers,” which is translated as “Original Papers.” Next is the publishing information. In recent years, the back cover has included the journal’s International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) at the lower right over a bar code.
Publisher: The publisher’s name in English is the Science and Encyclopedia Publishing House. It is the Kwahak Paekkwa Sajon Chulpansa in simplified M-R and 과학백과사전출판사 in Korean. The publisher’s name appears in Korean on the journal’s cover and in English on the copyright line on the publishing information page. In addition, the front cover includes the publisher’s logo: a globe, with a representation of the atom imposed at the top and an abbreviated version of the publisher’s Korean name, 백과 (Paekkwa), at the bottom.
Prior to the third issue of 2018, the publisher’s name printed on the front cover was 과학기술출판사 (Kwahak Gisul Chulpansa, the Science and Technology Publishing House). Confusingly, the front cover for the 2016 and 2017 issues, as well as the first two issues of 2018, show the Science and Technology Publishing House name together with the Paekkwa corporate logo.
The publisher publishes an issue each quarter, starting in March, for a total of four issues per year. According to the TOC and publishing information page, the third issue (September) of 2022 was cumulative issue number 310. The publishing information page also indicated that there was an editorial committee (no members named), the publisher was the Science and Encyclopedia Publishing House, the place of printing was the Moranbong Printing Plant, the date of printing was 3 September Juche 111 (2022), and the date of issue was 18 September Juche 111 (2022). The copyright line was © Science and Encyclopedia Publishing House 2022, DPR Korea. The publishing information has shown changes over time,; for example, in the first issue of 2011, the place of printing was the Pyongyang General Printing Plant. The copyright line consisted only of the © symbol, followed on that line by the ISSN, and showed no telephone number.