Journal of Kim Il Sung University: Natural Science (김일성종합대학학보. 자연과학 / Kim Il Song Chonghap Taehak Hakpo. Chayon Kwahak)
Journal of Kim Il Sung University: Natural Science
김일성종합대학학보. 자연과학 / Kim Il Song Chonghap Taehak Hakpo. Chayon Kwahak
Translation and backgrounder by Stephen Mercado
A monthly journal published by the Publishing House of Kim Il Sung University, which covered developments in the natural sciences and ceased publication at the end of 2017.
Journal Title: The journal title has various renderings. Journal of Kim Il Sung University: Natural Science 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 Kim Il-sŏng Chonghap Taehak hakpo. Chayŏn kwahak. The actual title and its English version both appear on the journal’s front cover and at the top of the first page of each article. The actual title also appears atop the Korean table of contents (TOC); the English version appears at the bottom of the English TOC and on the copyright line in the publishing information section.
Author Information: 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. The journal’s title suggests likely affiliation with faculties of Kim Il Sung University relevant to science and technology.
Subject Matter: The TOCs indicate what appear to be the major fields covered in the journal. In a retrospective for 2017, published after the regular TOC in issue 12, 2017, appeared the following fields as TOC sections, in the order published: Mathematics, Mechanics, Computer Science, Electronics and Automation, Physics, Material Science, Energy Science, Chemistry, Life Science, Agronomy, Geoenvironmental Science and Geology. Apart from these general categories, one can find articles on such topics as aerospace, mobile robotics, nuclear fusion and remote sensing.
References: Authors publishing in this journal tended to cite domestic, Chinese and Western monographs and journal articles. Domestic citations include the Publishing House of Kim Il Sung University’s 2016 book 무인화를 위한 지능로보트공학 [Intelligent Unmanned d Robot Engineering] and the journal 외국어연구 [Research on Foreign Languages]. Chinese citations include Atomic Energy Press’s 1989 book 核分析技术 (Nuclear Analysis Technology) and the journal 声学技术 (Technical Acoustics). Among the referenced Western works are Joseph Sambrook’s classic Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, as well as such journals as Designs, Codes and Cryptography, Nonlinear Analysis, and Physical Review B.
Sections: Each issue comprises a front cover; the 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 as shown a slogan over the journal title, under which is the name of the publisher, the issue number and year of issue. In recent years, the back cover has included the journal’s International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)at the lower right corner over a bar code.
Publisher: The publisher’s name in English is the Publishing House of Kim Il Sung University. It is the Kim Il Song Chonghap Taehak Chulpansa in simplified M-R and 김일성종합대학출판사 in Korean. The publisher’s name appears in Korean on the journal’s cover and in English at the end of the English version of the TOC and on the copyright line in the publishing information section.
The publisher published an issue each month, starting in January, for a total of 12 issues per year. Issue 12 (December), 2017—the journal’s final issue—was, according to the table of contents and the publishing information page, cumulative issue number 533. The publishing information section of that issue, found on the back cover, also indicated that there was an editorial committee (no members named), the publisher was the Publishing House of Kim Il Sung University, the place of printing was the Kim Il Sung University Printing Plant, the date of printing was 5 December Juche 106 (2017), and the date of issue was 10 December Juche 106 (2017). The copyright line was © Publishing House of KIM IL SUNG University 2017, DPR Korea and the email address was [email protected]. The publishing information changed over time; for example, in issue 1, 2011, the earliest issue available, there was no mailing address, email address or fax number. In place of this journal, since 2018, the publisher has been issuing six quarterly journals: Mathematics / 수학, Physics / 물리학, Chemistry / 화학, Life Science / 생명과학, Geoenvironment Science and Geology / 지구환경과학 및 지질학, and Information Science / 정보과학.