Bayer-BASF Venture Gives Shape To New Goals For Abstracting Service
PATRICIA L. LAYMAN · Chemical & Engineering News · 1994
Making the transition from a somewhat esoteric service to a commercial service that covers its costs is a difficult procedure. But a chemical engineering abstracting venture between Bayer and BASF, two large German chemical firms, is working hard to do just that. The service, Process Technology Reports, or VtB (for Verfahrenstechnische Berichte), is nearly 75 years old and is now the third-largest chemical abstracting service in the world. The two larger services are Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), a division of the American Chemical Society, and Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology Abstracts (CEBA), a joint venture between the Royal Society of Chemistry in the U.K. and DECHEMA (Deutsche GeseUschaft fiir Chemisches Apparatewesen, Chemische Technik und Biotechnologie) in Germany. With the recession in Germany pushing chemical companies and others to ensure all operations cover costs, VtB is now working hard to broaden its subscriber base and increase its revenues. At the beginning of the year, VtB changed publishers, ...